Suicide Prevention Saturday - Give Yourself a Star!
In this live‑stream hosted by Brooke Cheney (with co‑host DJ), the discussion weaves together suicide‑prevention, gun‑related statistics, and a community‑building exercise called “Give Yourself a Star.” Brooke opens by noting that two‑thirds of gun deaths are suicides and cites CDC‑backed estimates that there are between 0.5 and 3 million defensive gun uses annually, of which 80 % involve no shots fired. She uses these figures to argue that firearms can save lives, countering the narrative that guns are only used for violence. The bulk of the stream is informal: roll‑call of chat participants, anecdotes about a recent instructor‑training class, and a reminder that every skill—loading, unloading, cleaning a firearm—was once unknown. Brooke introduces the “give yourself a star” concept, encouraging viewers to acknowledge even tiny achievements (e.g., remembering a shopping list, getting out of bed) as a form of self‑compassion and mental‑health support. DJ and chat members share their jobs (armed security, truck driving, utility locating, etc.) and reflect on the importance of self‑recognition. The hosts discuss gratitude, the difficulty of receiving praise, and the value of giving oneself and others “gold stars.” The stream ends with a collective thank‑you to the community, a reminder to credit oneself, and a sign‑off for the next episode.
Chapters
Hi everyone. I do not know what is up with my camera. I don't know if it looks like to you the way it looks like to me, but do I look like I'm in a foggy room? Because everything looks a little bit darker than normal. So not in my car this weekend though. Welcome to Sue Severance Saturday. For those of you who are new, my name is Brooke Cheney, and thank you for all the replay viewers, although we do have a bunch of people here who are live, first and foremost. And DJ, yes, your link is in the email because I'm on my computer, not on my phone. Anywho, um, so DJ will be joining us shortly, I think, maybe, possibly. Uh, they've had some awful weather out west and he's been without power for a bit, but we're trying to piece stuff together, so Yeah, I do not know what is up with— I'm just, I'm looking very muted today, so not a filter, didn't do that on purpose. All right, so until DJ joins us, I'm gonna say hi to Chris from the 740, Chris Mercado, Crabby Turtle, uh, G23. DJ is out there as well saying hi to y'all, uh, Mike Ballinger, and we already said hi to DJ and Crabby Turtle. See, you talk a lot pre-game, and I will say hi to you multiple times because I'm not as organized as DJ, which is why I have DJ around here. So anywho, all right, um, for those of you who actually read the— wait, I guess it's below on all of them, right? Facebook and YouTube has the information down here, but I believe tonight's schedule— holy moly— Tonight's title was Give Yourself a Star. And why is that? Hey, and Hillbilly has joined us as well. I might join you tonight. I think I get to sleep in tomorrow, so I might see you at least in the green room over at the top of the next hour for Hillbilly's show. For those of you who don't know, following my show, top of the hour— oh, that's G23 because it moved on me, uh, go on over to Hillbilly Up's channel. And, you know, everybody check out everybody's channel because that's what we do here on YouTube. So there is all of that. All right, why are we here? Because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths that we hear about are suicides. And if we don't talk about suicide prevention and mental health, we're not actually going to save any lives. I was just talking to a student this morning, and which thing were we talking about? Oh, I know what we were talking about in class. We were talking about the statistics of how many defensive gun uses there are on average in a year, because President Obama and the CDC decided that they wanted to go find out how often are guns used in self-defense cases. And they assumed that they were going to get to little tiny numbers because, like we talked we talk about every Saturday, 2 out of every 3 gun deaths are suicides. So they're like, I've never heard of anyone using a firearm for self-defense, so it must not be the case. And thank you, GT3, there is Hillbilly Up's YouTube channel if you so desire to go visit, if you don't already have the link. Oh, the DJ came in! I heard a little pop. There he is. Say hello to everyone, DJ.
Here I am.
Oh, there you are. Okay, that's better.
I hope it's not lag too hard.
I don't know. No, I'm good as far as I know. So wait, do I look like I'm in a filter or something? Because I look very muted on my screen. Or— well, anyway, so I don't know.
I almost— I almost see what you might be referring to, but we can still see you smile. You're still beautiful. You don't worry about them.
Okay, I won't worry about the, the mutedness. And the FUD has joined us as well. All right, so give yourself a start. What am I talking about? Well, first let me finish what I was talking about with my student saying how that the Obama administration did a study with the CDC to find out that there are somewhere between half a million and 3 million self-defense gun uses every single year. Between half a million and 3 million. Now, if we compare that to the number of suicides that occur, which are roughly 20,000, and then compare that to the roughly 10,000 actual murders that occur each year, all of a sudden that whole thing of guns save lives becomes way more real. So I just had to bring that up. Uh, this is from Women for Gun Rights, which in the beginning was known as the DC Project. I don't have one of these that is updated. Um, yes, and, and as Chris points out, the that they know of, half a million to 3 million defensive gun uses. And for those of you who don't understand what that means, it means you come at me in a dark alley. No, I would never go in a dark alley. I'm smarter than that. But anyway, someone breaks into my house, I pull a gun out, they run away. That's a defensive gun use. Back to more fun and exciting stats about this. 80% of defensive gun uses never is a shot fired. So these people who want to beat us up for being gun owners and how dare we protect our own stuff and that sort of stuff, it's like 80% of the time there's not a shot fired. So that was a little bit off track what we're really talking about today, but why did I talk about give yourself a star? Because learning is always good. Oh, it's Misty Mrs. Wayne, and I've got to talk to her live in person. And I'm sure that Mr. Wayne was not— no, he was there in the room, but I got her instead, so it's all good because he was outside. All right, so I'm gonna go not look at the comments so I can get through what I'm talking about when I said give yourself a star. So last week y'all saw me in the— on, on the New Jersey Turnpike somewhere in some random, uh, you know pull-off area where you can get food and water and all of that sort of thing, because I was on my way to a training class where we teach people how to become instructors. And during the class on Sunday, one of the things that I always want to remind anyone, not just new possible instructors, is that anything you know, everything you know at some point you did not know it, right? Let that sink in for a moment. Everything you know and you're capable of doing, at some point in your life you are not capable of doing that. And I think one of the challenges that happens in the gun world, but in life in general, is that we forget what we know how to do, are capable of doing, is a skill. And this is where I say give yourself a star, because when we're kids— and of course, do I have my stickers right here on hand? No, I do not. But when we're kids in school, at least when I was a kid in school, you'd get a sticker on your paper if you did well, right? And so when I say give yourself a star, it's like giving yourself that little bit more of acknowledgement for accomplishing the thing that you did. In the gun world, I will say that so very often we take for granted the information that we have up here because we do the thing, whatever the thing is— loading, unloading, shooting, cleaning a firearm— and once we know how to do it, we sort of take it for granted because we don't have to think about it any longer. Now, you guys, help me out just a little bit in the chat. I'm going to give you a couple minutes. It's, uh, 9:08 right now, so at 9:10 or so I'm gonna look in the chat. Tell me what your job is, right? I know some of you work in education, um, I know Tara's a truck driver. I don't know if she's out there. I actually don't know what T23 does, even though we've talked about it. I just forgot because it's been forever. And whatever your vocation is, what you do to make money, right? At some point you didn't know how to do the job that you currently do that you're getting paid for. And what happens is we generally forget how important it is, the things that we do. So with that, DJ, you've got 1 minute because it's 9:09 by my thing right now, and I will let you do the roll call. And if you're feeling super organized, or if people are actually um, participating in this question, because I know there's a lag, so I'm not entirely sure how long, but I know it's less than a minute, I think, to see what kind of stuff people do. Because I'll pick on Tara whether she's here or not, is that driving an 18-wheeler— I'm pretty sure most of us understand most of us cannot get behind the steering wheel of an 18-wheeler and drive very far. Or drive very fast, or back up into a dock. And those are just some of the things that as a truck driver you need to do. And when we start doing something every single day that we don't think anything of, we're like, yeah, whatever, anyone can do it. It's like, no, that is not true. There are plenty of people in the world who cannot drive an 18-wheeler.. And one of the things I was trying to remind our students is that you are a godlike human being in front of this class. You are handling things that they are afraid of, possibly have been, never been around, or they just, they're just in awe at the fact that you can confidently handle a firearm. And the same is true for everything we do. Now, I don't know, I don't know if Tara's here. If she's not, I'm definitely tagging her in this and sending this to her. Let's talk about cooking because I know that's what she does. DJ, you've got the list?
I do, and I hope my signal is okay. I had to step into a zone where there's a little bit of background noise, so if everybody will bear with me. Uh, Randy Turtle was out there first. G23 was in the room next. Uh, Mike Ballinger is out there, so is Chris from the 740 Hillbilly Up. He's got some time to spend with us tonight. Glad to see him. Tactical Fudd is out there. Hey Buck, how you doing? Misty Mrs. Wayne is out there. Chris Broncato is, uh, the last person that I— yeah, the last person that I think, uh, made it into the chat. New face out there. Um, as for what people are doing out there, there are already some interesting answers to that. And I mentioned G23 just a second ago, and here's G23 saying that he does armed security now. And he's got a follow-up with it saying he switched from food manufacturing, food Food manufacturing isn't anything that I've ever—
go ahead. No, no, I remember now because like I said, I know he and I talked about this and I'm like, but I couldn't recall what it was.
Right on. I was just about to say I haven't been in food manufacturing outside of maybe my own kitchen kind of thing, but armed security I've actually done before. And I cannot relate to the ability to drive an 18-wheeler. I know what one looks like. I know to stay out of their way when I'm on the interstate because they deserve to be able to go in front of me wherever it is that they need to go. And that I probably won't ever learn how to do that. So you said maybe not get too very far in one. I don't think that I would get it into gear. I'd be worried about that, even that, myself. So those are the folks we have out there right now. We got, uh, Chris Broncato checking in and saying that he's an underground utility locator. And I bet you the off-seasons, wherever the— whatever the off-season is where he is— where Chris is, sorry, um, would present some difficulties, if not some dilemmas. And I'm in one of those right now when it comes to the heat, at least. That uninclement Nebraska weather is here. And as Brooke mentioned, top of the show, yeah, it's been a little weird, it's been a little wacky, it's been a little wild, and it's been a little— well, without electricity for 4 days now. So I'm trying to adapt to that as much as possible, as quickly as I possibly can. Um, Buck is down here saying, uh, TechnoFudd, that is, saying, I work on the 18-wheelers. So something tells me he might be able to get more than a couple of inches in a parking lot with one of those things. Let's see, Hillbilly Up's got some humor he's trying to inject already in the evening. Thanks for this, everybody. He says, I want to be a YouTube auditor. I think I know exactly why he may have decided he wants to look into that, whether he's smiling about it or not, kind of deal. Oh, Silvermine 2023. I'm not sure that I've seen this person out there. I actually need to strike that and say Silvermine 203, saying good evening. Um, a CCDL member here.
Yes, we love our CCDL because here in Connecticut they help keep us sane as far as, um, helping us watch and figure out what the next move is of our wonderful and spectacular government is. So, all right, so we've got armed security, plumbing excavator, underground utility locator, and I wrote excavator twice, probably because I can't say it well enough. So, um, sorry, going back to what I was talking about, I talked to Mrs. Wayne, and yeah, she was fun to talk to. So there's that. All right. All right, so no matter what your job, right, we talked about 18-wheelers and driving them, and we talked about armed security— no, we didn't. G23 can talk about armed security. But it's just like, to have the confidence to walk around with a firearm, whether you're armed security or you're just trying to take care of yourself, it's another step above the average person. And I know that not all of us are that person. However, when we get there, sometimes we forget how much we had to learn to get comfortable and confident and competent in what we are doing. Plumber excavator, holy smolies. Yeah, I'm not going to cut anybody's pipes, not doing it, much less solder and weld and all of those things. We had a bathroom installed last year. I don't want to do any of that or understand or have to follow where all of those pipes go and all of that sort of stuff. And then, uh, that's what I wrote down. So those are the things. So as far as wanting to be a YouTube auditor, I'm pretty sure you'd have to be AI to be a YouTube auditor. So hopefully, Hillbilly, we don't lose your brain to the AI and the great and giant netherworld of whatever the heck the internet actually truly is these these days. Um, I was hired by a pug to be a butler and chauffeur. This is true. This is actual Gun Websites' actual job. Although there's also a fluffy puppy, uh, is she a husky or she is Samoyed? I don't even know. Samoyed, probably, because she's all white. Um, so he was hired by a pug and a big white fluffy dog as well, and he is their butler and chauffeur. All you have to do is go over to Gun Websites YouTube channel, and you will see him feeding the pug and making sure the pug gets their proper amount of sleep as well as that. And yes, Silvermind, thank you for the additional comment because the YouTube algorithm is pretty brutal, especially any of us who have anything to do with firearms. So my question to you is, when was the last time you gave yourself a star and said, good job? Yeah, I really do want an answer. When was the last time you did that?
Um, Hillbilly, I want to say that I did that yesterday. It wasn't like a gold foil star that got sent home on my report card or anything. I might be able to like give some indication of it to my mother tomorrow though, because not only was she my mom, but she was my teacher for a while. So gold stars, I know something about I don't know anybody who really gives themselves enough credit for what it is that they are able to do. I think too often we're not reminded that we're doing a good job about something. And even if we are, most people don't want to just stand up, you know, straighten up their spine and say, thank you. Yes, I do. And even if we're deserving of that sort of praise and we aren't able to accept it, because of humility or some other, some other reason, then it might be that we don't get that kind of reinforcement from ourselves and needing to remind ourselves to give, you know, to get that gold star and put it on our own chest and, you know, put the chest out proud, stand up straight, that we are making contributions every day to somebody else's well-being. And if we're not doing that and acknowledging that for ourselves, then we're doing ourselves a disservice. We can't I can't expect to be like, uh, sorry, distracted. I can't expect to be complimented, complimented as often as I would like to be, maybe kind of thing. But then also, if your ego flexes a little bit too strongly into something, you might be giving yourself credit where your credit does not do. And I myself am guilty of that sort of thing too. I would like to think that I am the cat's meow, the pajamas, and any other damn thing attributed to a cat and being good at something. That I can, and that's not the truth. I know that also a lot of people, parents in particular, I think guys just because I'm able to relate to it more, don't like to admit when they are wrong or don't want to call out for help or a helping hand if they need it because they're starting to tread on, uh, starting to go out on a limb for what it is that they're able to do, or they're in deep water and they don't know how long they they no longer feel confident in their ability to swim. So tossing out lifelines to other people, they will come back. So as you're giving yourself a gold star, find somebody else to pass a gold star on to. I mean, Hillbilly's out there, um, bringing a little bit of extra humor into tonight's chat, and G-Webs follows right along with his. So there's always going to be somebody of good nature or somebody who is willing to point out that you're doing something important or you're doing something special. Or that you're just doing something. And that's really valuable to me.
And Tactical did get in his actual gold star. You clicked on the same time I did, didn't you, DJ? I see how this goes. Anyway, uh, so Buck is a happy man because if you make your wife happy, then you remain happy. So, uh, it is definitely a plus, just the fact you remembered the shopping list. I I think should get a gold star. And those are sort of things I give myself gold stars for when I actually remember my shopping list. So, um, that is worth— worthy of a gold star. And even if you go shopping and you don't get everything, I think that helps too. So, cat's pajamas, for real, where the heck did that come from?
Do you know? I don't know. It's— well, I'm not in my, uh, my usual broadcast space. No, and there's some distractions.
Yeah, but you're—
you're— cats, pajamas, and cats meow.
Yeah, well, cats meow, sure, because, uh, well, not even that, sure, but it's like the things that we say that we don't even realize what we're saying or why we're saying them. And I'm like, I know, like, toy dogs getting, uh, all decorated up and stuff is, you seems to me like a 7, 8, '90s, '80s, '90s things. So I'm like, how long have cats had pajamas and how long have we been saying that?
So I don't know when that would have come into usage. That's interesting. I'm gonna have to look that up.
I'm sure you'll let us know. So Hillbilly said last time we gave him a star, it was a throwing star. And I think I saw the episode. I thought he got some really cool throwing stars. Um, I'll have to go back and look at that. And then Chris is going to help us out by being the meow of the cat's meow. So, um, yeah, and to your point, DJ, definitely there is this fine line about feeling proud of yourself and saying good job and that overwhelming person who you just look at and is like, yeah, I'm the best. Yeah, you all just go— you can't even keep up with me. And it's, it's like, I think most of us are— most of us who are real people are somewhere— we're never thinking we're better than everybody else. However, we still have to give ourselves that credit for getting through the stuff that we do get through, because life is not always easy. Matter of fact, usually it's pretty hard. Most of the time. And as I've said before on this show, getting up, feet on floor, clothes on body, moving forward is an accomplishment. And we don't like to admit that, but some days that's all we got. And so when we go anything above and beyond that, and even for some people that is a huge amount of stuff to get done. So this is why give yourself a star regardless of what it is, whether it is— oh, DJ, do you want to say it first?
Let me get it on the screen. There we go. It's flashing in and out. It's before us all. It's Mario Mosin. And when Mario comes in the room, everybody says, hey, hey. I don't— yeah, I'm not sure I do it as well as anybody else does that. You know, some days Some days we should be thankful that we can get those socks on because someday we might not be able to put on our own socks. I mean, that was your example. I said pajamas for the cat. You got socks coming out of the conversation tonight. So trying to find even the smallest things to take some kind of pride in or some faith in doesn't come to all of us every day. And that's not a good thing. We should be able to recognize at least one thing a day that we're doing well It can't all be that bad, even though we feel that it is sometimes. So, you know, maybe store up a couple of these gold stars or write something down that you need to look at in the future when you run into one of those days where you don't have that kind of confidence, or nobody has called and said good job, or you baked 27 dozen cookies for the bake sale and nobody said thank you. Well, hopefully they bought the damn things at least. But there's sometimes we don't get acknowledged for the kind of work that we put in, and we wish to be acknowledged. And then we get a little, you know, a little, a little snitty into a little snit about it. And again, I am guilty of the same thing. How could they not have recognized what a fantastic job I just did with that? Or how many hours did I put into that project only to be ignored at the podium? Um, I don't know that everybody has that in them, but I've run into a lot of my friends that do as well. And so, you know, going back to a subject we've had on the program previously about being kind to to ourselves and doing kind things for ourselves ties right into what we're talking about tonight. So taking pride in the fact that you put your socks on may seem like a small feat— see what I did there?— but it is no small feat when it comes to some time later or someday where you simply don't have the energy or illness or something else.
It's true. Um, yeah, when I was at a Christian retreat and told the story before, but it's like we read this story about this woman's morning. She woke up, she put her feet on the floor, she went to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth, she got dressed. And then at the end of the story, you find out that she did none of those things because she's paralyzed. And those are the stories that help me remember that each thing that we do is truly a blessing. And so that's why no matter what you're doing to get through today, the fact you got through today is that blessing. And to have that gratitude— and I know we talk about gratitude, people like, oh, not the gratitude thing— but it's like, this is the thing that makes us smile. It's like seeing each and every one of you out there— Mario, GT3, Chris, Hillbilly, Tactical Fudd, Silver Mine. DJ Gun Websites. Who am I missing? Who am I missing? Oh, Mike, um, Crabby Turtle, Mrs. Misty Wayne. That really is hard to say, I'm not gonna lie. I'm just like, Crabby Turtle. So each one of you guys, I want you all to give yourselves a little star just for showing up and saying something in the chat. I know it probably seems like, well, all I'm doing is typing here I'm like, no, because you are giving me encouragement because you are here. And that's a big deal because you're the reason I keep going. Because I am not going to lie, and I've told y'all this before, there are absolutely times when it is Saturday night, 7:45, I'm looking at my watch and I'm like, I want to go to bed, I don't want to stay up. But because you guys show up here on a Saturday night, 9 o'clock, because we all have such rockin' Saturday Night Live plans. Um, no, I'm just kidding. Well, no, we really did, because from here we got to go to Hillbilly's party. But other than that, without you guys here watching and commenting and doing all the things you do, this show would no longer be here. And if you think that this helps someone, understand it helps me as well as whoever else it touches that helps them as well. So for that, I I am giving you all a big star. Yes, what Mrs. Misty Wayne said, a gold star for everybody. That is it exactly. All right, well, thank you all for popping in. And DJ, you gonna do your thing where you say goodbye to everybody for me and we'll see them next week?
I, I am. I would be really pleased to do that. Uh, tonight we were joined by the Krabby Turtle, G23, Mike Ballinger, Chris from the 740 was here, so was Hillbilly Up. Tactical Fudd Buck was here tonight, so was Misty Mrs. Wayne. Chris Broncato joined us as well. Silvermine 203 got it right that time, and Mario Mosen was in the room. In addition to anybody else who might have been listening now or in replay, remember, credit where credit is due is something that we hear a lot. So if credit is due Let me start that over again. Give, uh, Brooke, can you jump in here and help me remember what the hell I was just trying to say? All right, credit is due. There we go.
Are you sure? Got it.
I'll go back. I'll go. I think so.
We good? All right, let's go.
I think so. Um, we often hear to give credit where credit is due, but I think that oftentimes we don't realize that we owe that debt to ourselves. See, I was trying to give a clever turn there and got all twisted up. Thank you for, thank you for saving me on that one, Brooke.
Um, Damn, everybody.
I know.
Oh, sorry.
And they say if you can do one— if you can only do one thing well, do it really, really well, or something. And I have failed on all accounts. However, I'm gonna give myself a gold star just for showing up. And with— wait, I'm not wearing socks. Okay, I'll work on the gold star later on tonight. But thanks everybody for being here this week and every week. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe on this video. Catch one from the replay availabilities that you have from past broadcasts, and please look forward to the next one. Tell a friend, bring them along. Everybody be safe, have fun, take care of your crew and yourself, and always rock! We're out.
