Actor James Woods Twitter

Actor James Woods Helps Suicidal Veteran Using Twitter

One veteran struggling with suicide received direct help from actor James Woods who called attention to the issue on Twitter.

The story surfaced yesterday about a suicidal veteran, Marine veteran Andrew MacMasters, being contacted by Woods on Twitter after the veteran commended that he planned to kill himself:

I’m on Twitter every day, I retweet all the time but this is the first tweet I’ve ever written,” user @macmasters_a tweeted Thursday. “I’m (a) good guy, I’m a veteran, I love America. I’m gonna kill myself tonight. I’ve lost everything I have nobody, nobody cares.

Somehow Woods came across the tweet and began engaging the veteran in a series of tweets to keep the man talking, or tweeting, rather.

“We can talk. I don’t care what anybody thinks. Do you? Let’s have a conversation. Just you… and I,” Woods said in one tweet to MacMasters, adding in another, “I’m following you now, so you can DM me. We can talk privately. Or we can talk openly right here. Lot of people worried about you right now.”

Apparently Woods was traveling when the issue came across his feed, and he proceeded coordinate with local officials in Florida to get a wellness check.

“So think about this. A lot of vets, I understand, have come to where you are tonight,” Woods continued. “If you could just push this decision off tonight, at least, maybe you would also inspire another vet to seek help. You could save another man, too. By waiting to do this.”

“If only Andrew could see the THOUSANDS of fellow Americans who are pulling for him. It’s like he’s lost behind enemy lines and we are cheering him home, willing him to survive,” Woods tweeted. “Andrew, do this for the ‘other 21’ vets a day who don’t make it home from the darkness. Stay alive!”

The local Orlando police were unable to locate MacMasters that night but contacted the veteran in the morning by phone. MacMasters refused assistance.

“Our agency was able to make contact with him by phone earlier this morning, where he advised he was OK but did not wish to have contact with law enforcement,” the emailed statement read. “Our officers are still working to try and physically locate him to determine his well-being.”

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8 Comments

  1. For other vets hurting out there, I share 3 texts i recently sent to a hurting friend:

    [Six Signs of a Strong Friendship – Mindful]
    “https://www.mindful.org/six-signs-of-a-strong-friendship/?utm_source=Mindful+Newsletter&utm_campaign=dcb6a56df6-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b4e0293689-dcb6a56df6-44691927&mc_cid=dcb6a56df6&mc_eid=297f1354f1”

    You are not as alone as it may seem. At times, I know it feels so most of the time. I get it. I get how we feel about the world around us, those others in it too selfish to notice or lacking courage to reach out to us out of mispercieved fear about us, or false beliefs, that we may force them to come to terms with their selfishness…

    Peace of mind is everything. When that is fleating, depleted, sporadic. We become lost inside our own heads…
    That is when it’s vital to be around others, so we can see ourselves in new light, fully.
    Getting others perspectives really helps me get back out of my head.
    Being around close friends, as described in that article, helps me most, for all reasons mentioned in that article.
    I hope you can find peace of mind, enuf so, to learn how to be more accepting of yourself, less critical about yourself, and to recognize how important it is, that when we get stuck in our own minds, it’s critical that we pull ourselves back out.
    The Best way I know how is by reaching out to others, seeking their help to pry our minds out of our self consuming thought patterns.
    All it takes is talking about silly stuff to distract us just long enough to come out of our isolation… Even if only for a little while.
    More practice you need my friend, at getting out of your head, and into the minds of others you trust. Start by getting outside, taking a short walk, noticing the little things like flowers, trees, colors, shapes sizes of different stuff we come across. Then reach out to others, and be amazed how much easier to relate to others becomes…
    Doing so will show you, that the things you say to your self, in your own head, are not as true as you may think.
    Oftentimes others notice things about me I don’t recognize in myself, but are there, I just can’t see them for myself. That’s bcus I been stuck so bad in my head for so long that I couldn’t see them… Until a friend pointed them out. That made all the difference for me…
    ~K-Lar

  2. Lesson learned here is that although not all of us have the training, knowledge, skill, and/or ability to treat someone who is depressed and/or suicidal – we, still have the ability to hopefully influence someone who may be at a seriously low point.

    We do this in small ways, like giving them the greeting of the day, service with a smile (even “if” the VA won’t allow you to grant them what they are seeking)…just treating someone with genuine dignity, respect and care makes a world of difference.

    People are so angry, especially now a days. I pray this holiday season gives us time to seriously reflect and do better to each other.

  3. *Sincere Prayers
    For This Veteran &
    Sincere Thanks
    TO James Woods for
    ‘CARING’ Enough to
    Encourage This
    & Other Veterans
    To ‘Hang IN There’
    & ‘Make it Through’ the
    VERY Difficult Time of
    ‘Feeling’ That
    ‘No One Cares’ for Them… 🙁
    * My Heart Breaks for
    THOSE
    Who ‘Feel Hopeless’… ♡
    *I Have ‘FELT’ Those
    ‘Monster’ Feelings &
    They DON’T ‘Go Away’
    Very Easily… 🙁
    *OFTEN…
    JUST ONE PERSON
    ‘CAN’ Make
    ALL the Difference
    IN a Person’s Life… ♡
    *Thank YOU, James Woods,
    FOR Being ‘THAT’ Person
    AND for CONTACTING Police/Help FOR
    This Veteran Because,
    Sometimes,
    EVEN Though You
    ‘MAY’ Have Someone
    ‘Talked Out & AWAY
    From the ‘DARKNESS’,
    Oftentimes
    THEY NEED HELP
    & ‘Follow-Up’ by ‘SOMEONE’
    Who Genuinely CARES… ♡Kathy♡

    1. @Kathy: Thank you for saying what I could not find words to do, well done.
      Hope James Woods finds these words, and knows his effort, time, are valued greatly, because it shows he has the brains and heart not to be sucked into the fantasy land of never ending selfish behavior displayed by too many famous persons, to the detriment of those the skip over, ignore, as veterans and those w mental ilnesss are so often. More caring people, need to show the courage to say they care, and act accordingly.
      Unless or until the American people, as a whole, find it in their hearts to take the time off instead of taking just one selfie and posting it online, to instead write a simple email to their politicians, demanding equal treatment of veterans, equal access to medical care, fair honest medical evals and opinions, appropriate, timely, proper medical care for all veterans period, then the 22 vets per day will continue to die needlessly, because Americans are so selfish they can’t see the forest for the trees.
      America: show us you care, by thanking us for our selfless service, by forcing our politicians to do the right thing, and when you see or hear about vets being treated badly by VA: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!
      ~K-Lar

      1. *Totally AGREE, K-Lar… ☆
        *My Husband is a Vietnam-Era Veteran & Served Patriotically DURING a VERY ‘Unpopular Time’
        IN Our Countries History… 🙁
        *TO BE ‘Thanked’ NOW & ‘Appreciated’ for HIS Service Has Brought TEARS to His Eyes… ♡
        ♡Kathy♡

  4. A lot us here have been and still are in the same situation everyday. Some people still think we’re cold hearted baby killers and that we should die. Some of us still sometimes stare down a barrel and wonder will it will take us. I’m lucky this weekend having my sons visiting, working on an old dodge truck, drinking beer, while listening to Led Zeppelin. Priceless. I think of them when I get weak and it pulls me back. They know it. It’s easy to harm yourself when no one cares. I hope some one yanks this vet out of the hole he’s in and realizes that some do care. I dropped a tear for this vet this morning because I’m unable to pull him back and shake him up a little bit. I hope he thinks thrice before he acts. I’m closer to my next birthday now that I’ve come to terms with my devil. Hope he does too.

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