too jews d in the continued from page 18 Upscale Consignment & Auction House The Little Things We Do Matter ICONIC 20 th CENTURY FURNITURE, FINE-ART, HOME DECOR & LIGHTING At Visit Us ÀHOG XWK 7KH6R VP6KRZ QL 0RGHU $SULO I NOW BUYING AND ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS Tues-Sat 12-6, Sun 12-4 3325 Orchard Lake Rd, Keego Harbor, MI 248-481-8884 WWW.LESHOPPETOO.COM t all changed when a close friend attempted suicide. Obviously, I will never know exactly what he was feeling, thinking or going through, but I got a sense of it. As he began to share what he was feeling, including that he did not matter, my mind opened to the fact that these questions do need to be asked, and that they are just as important as any others. Through numerous conversations with my friend and with others will- ing to help, I learned a lot about how these questions actually affect indi- viduals and began to think about my own life through my friend’s per- spective. Why do I matter? I realized many of my friend’s concerns revolved around the worry that he would not accomplish any- thing noteworthy in his life, which made it not worth living. He thought that mattering requires doing something significant that sets him apart from the crowd. While I think people who do such things certainly matter, I realized they weren’t seeing the whole picture. This epiphany led me to my own conclusion: You don’t have to be famous for curing cancer to matter. I haven’t done any such thing, and I matter just as much as the next person. Like my friend, I matter because of the smaller-scale things I can do. I helped my little sister with her math homework; I let someone borrow my textbook because she forgot hers; and I called my grand- mother who was fighting pneumo- nia to make sure she was all right. These may not be world-changing feats, but it’s because of them that I make the world a better place and that I matter. • These anonymous essays are shared with the Jewish News by Friendship Circle. CHANGING HANDS ESTATE SALES We specialize in mid-century modern estate sales Let our experienced team handle all of your estate needs: ǵLjǵHands free-hassle free estate sales Call Leslie Weisberg today for a free consultation One Thing I Wish You Knew 248-709-9648 changinghandsestates.com JOIN US ON WEDNESDAYS FOR APPRAISALS WITH TERRI STEARN! DFAA: 248-672-3207 DetroitFAA.com DetroitFineArtAppraisals@gmail.com 20 March 8 • 2018 jn U Matter is proud to present “One Thing I Wish You Knew,” a com- munity event highlighting the honesty and vulnerability of their men- tal health, Wednesday, March 7, at the Friendship Circle Meer Center in West Bloomfield. This event will focus on how teens in the community attempt to overcome challenges and often feel isolated and alienated. UMatter is a program focused on empowering teens to shatter the stig- mas surrounding mental health chal- lenges and suicide. This event will highlight the vulner- ability and honesty of teens who will tell the people in their lives what they wish they knew about their journeys. Multiple relationships that teens in our community have, including parent- child, sibling-sibling and friend-friend, will be highlighted, including the dif- ficulty of sharing what occurs beneath the surface. How do teens tell the people they care about how they are feeling, when oftentimes it is hard to put into words? This event, sponsored by Friendship Circle, Friendship House and the Andrew Kukes Foundation for Social Anxiety, will be accompanied by a community resource fair and light dessert reception. The community resource fair begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the event at 7 p.m. Friendship Circle is located at 6892 W. Maple Road. To register, visit friendshipcircle.org/umatter-event. •