Hawk Responds To Viewer Comments on His Survival Story
On Christmas Eve of 2001, Hawk sat in a recliner with a loaded .38 in his mouth. His yellow lab Oscar walked over, sat right in front of him, and started wagging his tail. That moment saved his life. After sharing that story in a recent video, Hawk received hundreds of comments from viewers who had been through their own darkest nights, and in this video he reads many of them aloud.
Hawk is a mental health advocate who speaks openly about suicidal ideation, trauma therapy, and the long road to recovery. Now 58 and retired from a legal career, he has spent 26 years building what he calls a second life, most recently moving into his dream home in the mountains and continuing intensive work with a trauma specialist.
The comments pour in from all corners, a therapist specializing in trauma who validates Hawk’s message, a viewer at 3am on the way to a minimum wage job holding onto hope from the video, parents who nearly lost their children, survivors who had never spoken their truth aloud to anyone until that moment. Martin Short’s public grief over losing his adult daughter to suicide also figures into the conversation, including a clip of Short noting just how many hands go up when he asks an audience if they have lost someone this way.
Hawk reads these comments with raw honesty, acknowledging how difficult it is to accept love and praise, how grateful he is for the community that has formed around the channel, and why he refuses to forget what that Christmas Eve felt like, even as his life continues to grow into something he never imagined possible.
It takes strength and courage to dig deep and expose your authentic self, especially in the current world we are navigating. Thank you for being a breath of fresh air, a voice of reason, and most importantly alive. I saw a clip you’d done a few months ago that somebody had posted on substack and it struck me because you were speaking straight up. It took me a bit to figure out who you were and where to find you online, and I’m glad I did because there are times when I think “argh I just need a little Hawk” to listen to. You touch many people when you speak of your journey, the dogs, snake, change of domicile, and of course your perspective on the bullshit we are living through. But I think it’s your authenticity that is at the core of all of it that is so striking.
It takes a great deal of strength to be that vulnerable and raw and we're all grateful for it. For some it's hard to fathom the feeling of "the world is better off w/out me" or "it'll never get better". Those people should consider themselves fortunate but not so much that they can't empathize. We all know the world can take drastic turns. It's how we recognize how it's makes us and others feel and that it's not only ok to ask for help w/out the stigma, but it's lifesaving. Thank you Hawk for sharing your life w/ us, making us smarter, more aware and more empathetic! Thank you for staying and thanks to your amazing dog for saving you! Dogs are the best things on earth (imo)!