By Dylanna Fisher
The semicolon is a punctuation mark, used in connecting two independent but related clauses or in complicated lists. It’s similar to a colon but it has a comma on the bottom instead. According to Grammarly on the use of the semicolon, they aren’t directly similar to commas or periods.
“Semicolons are not interchangeable with commas or periods. Instead, they’re somewhere in between: stronger than a comma but not quite as divisive as a period. Sounds pretty cunning to us”, describes Grammarly Tips. (https://www.grammarly.com/blog/semicolon/)
But the semicolon is more than just an understated piece of punctuation. They’re also the iconic image of a mental health awareness and suicide prevention organization called Project Semicolon. This project was born from a social media movement in 2013 where people merely drew a semicolon on themselves and photographed the drawing to highlight mental health. Though it’s grew to a larger movement with more permanent drawings. It has gone to a semicolon tattoo to highlight mental health and suicide.
Project semicolon is based on the belief that suicide is generally preventable. With resources, and personal and public awareness, the rates of suicide can drop. Their mission is “to help reduce the incidents of suicide in the world through connected community and greater access to information and resources”.
Neil Meads, a BBC video journalist, reported, “A semicolon can be used when a sentence could come to an end, but instead continues. People who suffer from mental illness have now taken on the punctuation symbol as a metaphor for a moment when a person contemplates suicide - in other words, thinks about ending the story of their life - and yet they continue through their difficulties”.
(if you’d like to use a video addition for the blog, this is Mead’s video on the project https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-33540232/bbctrending-why-are-people-getting-semicolon-tattoos)
Suicide is the cause of death for nearly 800,000 people around the world annually. That’s one person every 40 seconds that dies from suicide. Though that’s only the suicide attempts that succeed. The World Health Organization writes that for each adult that died by suicide there may be 20 other adults attempting. Beyond just statistics of suicide, WHO has an action plan for preventing suicides and it’s a call for change. There needs to be change around the stigma of mental illness and providing better awareness. This action plan calls for change with four major objectives including improve governance for mental health, provide comprehensive and responsive mental health services, implement strategies for promotion and preventions, increasing mental health research, and increase awareness. That’s what Project Semicolon tries to achieve. These semicolon tattoos increase awareness as it lets people know they aren’t alone. It creates a conversation in a way that encourages people to open up.
The semicolon tattoo is a simple design with a huge message. Parker Molloy, an Upworthy writer has gotten a semicolon tattoo.
" Not because it's trendy (though, it certainly seems to be at the moment), but because it's a reminder of the things I’ve overcome in my life. I've dealt with anxiety, depression, and gender dysphoria for the better part of my life, and at times, that led me down a path that included self-harm and suicide attempts,” opens up Molloy, “But here I am, years later, finally fitting the pieces of my life together in a way I never thought they could before. The semicolon (and the message that goes along with it) is a reminder that I’ve faced dark times, but I'm still here."
A semicolon is something simple. And yet the message is so profound. It’s a message to everyone that they’re not alone, that things to get better.
If you or anyone you know are having
thoughts of suicide, please know that you are not alone. Please call your local
suicide hotline.
Canada’s national hotline 1-833-456-4566
United States national hotline 1-800-273-8255