To Write Love On Her Arms

Tomor­row, prob­a­bly a mil­lion peo­ple will be writ­ing the word “LOVE” on their arms. To Write Love On Her Arms is a move­ment that started in 2006, in an effort to help a sui­ci­dal girl who had been turned out of a treat­ment cen­ter because she was too high of a risk. She’d writ­ten “FUCK UP” on her arms with her razor. For five days, her friends worked to give her hope, and to remem­ber the rea­sons to live. Tee-shirts with “to write love on her arms” were sold to raise money to help her, and this move­ment was born.

Every year, on Novem­ber 13, out come the Sharpies. The title of the story was not really intended to start so many peo­ple lit­er­ally writ­ing the word “love” on their arms, but that’s one of the ways it is being sup­ported and expressed.  The goal is to sup­port those bat­tling drug addic­tion, depres­sion, self injury, and the cul­mi­na­tion of it all, sui­cide. Last year I was invited to do this. I remem­ber think­ing it was a noble cause, and such a small ges­ture to help so many. But I for­got, because it really didn’t hit all that close to home. This year I can’t forget.

The effect that this move­ment has on those who need it is heart-warming. On the Face­book group, there’s a gallery of pic­tures of peo­ple who have writ­ten their love on their arms. There are pic­tures of groups of friends, some of them with heal­ing scars from sui­cide attempts or self-mutilation openly beside healthy, whole arms. There are peo­ple post­ing that tomor­row is their favorite day of the year! My mind bog­gles at that thought, but it is so won­der­fully hope­ful! If this out­pour­ing of love is truly nur­tur­ing the seed of love and self-worth in their hearts, it’s a tiny ges­ture for me to express it. I do have love and com­pas­sion for all of those suf­fer­ing out there.

Renee, the young woman whose life was saved in 2006, hoped her story would help oth­ers. Her words seem to speak directly to me now. “The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds. We miss them in the storms. Tell them to remem­ber hope. We have hope.”