In times of information overdose, with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other services bombarding us 24 hours a day, it is common to treat this type of content as spam. However, the Yellow September comes from a real campaign, organized by a foundation called Yellow Ribbon (in Portuguese, “Fita Amarela”), which was founded in 1994. And it all started because of a yellow Ford Mustang.

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In other words, it all started with a young man named Michael Emme, a young man from Westminster, Colorado, who was known to his family and friends as "Mike Mustang". The reason? The boy was an enthusiast, a fan of the Ford Mustang, and bought a copy before he was old enough to drive. The car was a hardtop made in 1967, and Mike's goal was to restore it to use as his first car. Mike did all the work himself, and painted the body bright yellow.

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Mike took his life for not knowing how to ask for help - which is frighteningly common in cases of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. These diseases affect behavior silently, and often pass through simple sadness, or supposed personality characteristics of the individual.

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Mike was described by his parents, Dale and Darlene Emme, as a good-hearted, generous and humorous young man. However, at 23:52 on September 8, 1994 - exactly 25 years ago - the couple came home and were faced with something terrible. The Mustang was standing in front of the house, as usual, but Mike was already dead in the car. He had shot himself, and there was a note next to the body. “Mom dad, don't blame yourself. I love you, ”said the paper. “Love, Mike. 11:45 pm ”. Mike committed suicide seven minutes before his parents showed up. They could have saved the son.

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Mike is said to have broken up with his girlfriend shortly before, and that he was really down. However, those who knew him believed it was normal, after all he had just left a relationship, and this kind of thing usually makes people sad. However, Mike probably suffered from depression. Without treatment and without support - perhaps even because he did not know what it was about - Mike came to the conclusion that taking his own life would solve his problem.

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Mike was very dear to the neighborhood and friends, and within hours Mike's house was full of people connected with him. Talking to young people, Mike's parents saw that their son's tragedy did not have to be in vain. That was when they had the idea to create “memories” of Mike - simple objects that were loaded with the son's memory, and that could somehow help young people in the same situation to escape from an early and sad ending like his.

Then came the idea of ​​yellow ribbons, like Mike's Mustang, each of which is attached to a card. On the cards, a simple message: “if you are thinking about suicide, give this card to someone and ask for help!” The idea was to help young people who contemplated suicide to expose their situation.

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Mike's parents and friends made 500 cards out of yellow ribbons and, during his funeral, put them all in one basket. At the end of the ceremony, all the cards had been taken by someone and started to spread around the country. Weeks later, Dale and Darlene Emme started receiving calls, letters and emails from people who had received someone's card.

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Since then, the Yellow Ribbon has become a suicide prevention program based on yellow cards and ribbons. The cards are aimed at teenagers and young people, while adults receive information on how to act when they receive a card. It sounds like a silly gesture, but the first step in overcoming depression is to identify and diagnose it. Often, a simple conversation can lead to a visit to the psychologist or psychiatrist - and, with professional help, depression can be combated and controlled.

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According to Yellow Ribbon, more than 19 million cards have been distributed that, in the past 25 years, have helped to prevent almost 115,000 suicides among young people. Still, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 800,000 suicides a year worldwide, most of them due to mental disorders.

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Since 2003, WHO has adopted September 10 as World Suicide Prevention Day. In Brazil - where a person ends his or her life every 45 minutes - the September Yellow campaign is an initiative of the Centro de Valorização à Vida (CVV), the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) and the Brazilian Psychiatric Association (ABP). The inspiration was the story of Mike Emme and the performance of the Yellow Ribbon.

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Do you have symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts? In either situation, never be afraid or ashamed to ask for help. Although there are many people who still think it is cool or who are trying to get attention and appear, these symptoms are part of a major mental disorder, causing disorders and increasing the so-called “Disease of the Century” statistic.

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Suicide prevention is still the best medicine !!!