By Alex Vogel ’26

I am truly honored to have the opportunity to be here, to even just breathe this air in front of me. But I am even more blessed to be able to speak on a matter that is very near and dear to my heart. A matter that binds us all, a challenge that knows no borders, no class, no creed, no social hierarchy. A matter that is taking one life every eleven minutes. 

When nations wage war, it is one versus another. War is hell. War is publicly condemned because of its capability to steal human lives too soon. When nations wage war, there are protests, demonstrations against it, and pleas to make it end. The act of war itself is hell. Those in war can attest that being caught in the crossfire of a war…is hell, being in the frontlines of war…is hell, being on the sidelines of a war, witnessing untimely death…is hell. Battling against a war is hell. Yet in almost every national conflict, there is a group of people that come together to fight this hell. Soldiers in war murder the enemy.

This dreadful matter I speak of is one of self-murder. Suicide: the seemingly only answer when the struggles of the mind win the war.

I have hope that the silent battles of the mind will one day be welcomed and not discussed behind closed doors. I see a time when a chorus of empathy and understanding will ease the weight of depression, anxiety, and despair rather than being carried alone.

I have a hope that one day, people who fight behind closed doors would no longer feel ashamed and will instead stand tall in the light of acceptance, surrounded by people who say, “We see you, we hear you, we are with you.”

I have a hope that the stigma that suffocates the soul will crumble like ancient walls, giving way to a society where mental health is not a secret to be hidden, but a truth that is unanimously accepted. 

I have a hope that instead of demanding that peacefulness be sacrificed for work, workplaces would become shelters to the artillery that is mental hell. Shelters where everybody will feel appreciated and complete.

I have a hope that our hospitals will treat not only broken bones but broken spirits, that our leaders will legislate not only for the economy but for the emotional well-being of the supposedly free people.

And so I say, let us rise from the commentary and judgement of others. Let us rise up with the courage to speak openly, for there is no solution in silence. Let us rise up and embrace each other, for there is no shame in struggle. Let us rise up and create a world where mental health is no longer a war that one must fight alone. Let us rise up and fight this war that is more lethal than total war. Let us rise up until every soul knows the joy of being cared for and looked out for. Let us lead in love and acceptance, not judgement and belittlement. Let us rise until the day this war against the mind is put to a permanent ceasefire, where society is the victor, and suicide is the defeated. Only then we may sit down in contentment.

That is my hope…it is your duty to carry this hope with you until all of us do, so that this no longer remains just my hope, but all of the souls of this beautiful world we can make. Turn this hope into a reality, so that when the war of society and mental health is discussed in future history classrooms, the teachers and students can say with a smile–a real smile–that “society won”.