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Dealing with Suicide Rest in Power JDF · WDYM What Do You Mean?

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, this is Michael, the host of the WDYM, the What Do You Mean podcast.
• 0:04
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• 0:27
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• 0:35
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• 0:41
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• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: So let me tell you this.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you build it, they will come.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and download the Anchor app and go to Anchor.fm and get your podcast started.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Michael Gillespie.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Starting to get used to that.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I better not.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, how you doing?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hope everything is well today.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hope everything is going good today.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode, we're going to be talking about the legacy of JDF, Jason David Frank, who is the who basically is the face of Power Rangers, been the face of Power Rangers for probably since the Green Ranger came on board.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: The original Green Ranger, he went on to do many things with Power Rangers.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, he took his life via suicide.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, when you do when you talk about things like this, you know, you always want to honor the people and honor, you know, what he was.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And Jason David Frank, he touched so many people's lives.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And um touched my life as well.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because back then, back in the early 90s, man, if if I'm telling you, man, Power Rangers was kids crack.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever, you know, we had five colored suits uh bringing out their big giant robots, fighting putties and all that stuff.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then when the Sixth Ranger came out and he was evil and he got his own theme song, you knew you were in trouble.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: When you heard this, somebody's getting messed up.
• 3:01
  unknown: Go break go.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on, man.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: If you were a kid back in the 90s and you saw Mighty Morph and Power Rangers, the original five, then you add Tommy who was six, man, it was amazing.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was amazing to have that back then as a kid.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I used to I used to get off the bus, run so fast to get home to watch Power Rangers to see what they were going on.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, again, again, it didn't dawn on me that it was a Japanese show that, hey, they keep using the same footage.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because remember, if I watch you watched the anime, watch Voltron or anything like that, you know they would reuse and reuse stuff, reuse animations, reuse footage, and all that stuff.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it didn't dawn on me back then when I was a kid.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was fixated on what was going on.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing that that that Jason David Frank was that he touched millions of people's lives.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: He he he made life easier for everybody or better for everybody because he was.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm a classifier.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a classifier.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: He was a hero, you know.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the things that he did, the things that he he he stayed for power rangers all through like so many seasons of power mighty morphic power ranges.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Then he went to Turbo and he did ZO too.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like it it it baffles me a little bit.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: It baffles me like he got to this zone where he felt like you know that he he couldn't talk to nobody and couldn't reach out to nobody.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, it was it's weird just to s to talk in a past tense about somebody who you raise you you grew up watching and idolizing.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now he wasn't my favorite ranger, but his impact was so big, so big.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: When he went from green to white and the mu again, maybe I'm a I'm a fool for music, maybe that's what I am.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: But when he went from green, then he went to white ranger, you know.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I mean I'm sorry.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna bring it up.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Let's it's just banger.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: When this happened, when he went from green to white, he was the leader of the Power Rangers.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, you got White Rangers two theme songs?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Two theme songs.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you know you're something if you get two theme songs, one for being evil and one for being the you know, the white ranger.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was great.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: On top of that, he met his fans, he did he did so much for the community of Power Rangers, and it just sucks to hear that he got to a point where he couldn't figure out to go get help.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And and and this is the the episode where you you like what what do you do in those situations?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what do you do when your mental health is attacked or you're feeling low on fuel and you feel like you have nowhere else to go?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's and it's and everybody's different.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna be like, this is what you need to do, this is this is this is what you should do.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna just tell you what I do.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna just tell you what how I impact my life and how I impact others.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: So one thing that I do back then is when like when I joined the military, I always consider I and this may be weird, but this is how I how I handled this situation.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I view myself as a as a superhero or as a hero, you know.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um serving in the military, serving my country, I was willing to sacrifice everything for my country.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So me deciding to take myself out when no one could take my take me out for my country makes me feel better about myself, right?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I I mean, weird as it may be that I consider myself a hero.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Weird, but that's works for me, okay?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: I do, I consider myself a hero.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So therefore, I cannot let people down because the the core values of the Air Force is still in me to this day.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Service over self, excellence in all we do.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot the third one.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh service over self, excellence in all we do.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Integrity first.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Bang! Still in me.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's still in me somewhere.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, um, those are the core values that the Air Force has installed on me, and that stays with me to this day.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I left the Air Force 11 2022, and those core values are still with me, probably to the day I pass away.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: But those are the core values.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Then I always think reflect on myself every night before I go to bed.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Where again, this is what I do, reflect.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: What am I doing right?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what am I doing today?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I work with old people, right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: So old, you know, working with the elderly is is it takes a lot for a person to work for the elderly, trust me when I say that.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I always ask myself, where's my impact?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Did I make this person smile?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Did I make, you know, I brought this person food?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is this person happy?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do I do I affect somebody's life at what at especially at this stage of their life?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Am I affecting them in a positive way?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I say yes.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I say I say yes.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm affecting them in a positive light.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another thing that I do.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: I always, you know, check, make sure that I'm doing something.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, is like I have family.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: I have family and friends that I still want to see and admire.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I do plan on doing a series where I talk about some of my friends from the Oskiewolski from the old school, and um, you know, give them their proper dues, tell them fun stories and all that stuff.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: But the the journey that I've been on is not done yet.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I get to see, get still talk to some of the old friends, get talk to the uh, you know, old school people, meet new people, interact with them, you know, tell stories, make them laugh.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, part of the podcast is because people listen to me and I listen to them and I have interaction with them.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that that that makes me keep going, right?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel like stopping.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: You get what I'm saying?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't want to stop because of a situation.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and another thing that I want to say, and I'm and there's no script today.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not scripting this.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is all coming straight from the heart.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like any problem that you face can be can be solved, right?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like can be answered, can be yeah, like I say, can be solved, right?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many things that you can do to avoid these problems.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like I go back to um JDF, Jason David Frank, he was going through um apparently like trying to reconcile with his wife and to a point where he felt like uh he couldn't overcome the situation.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Be that as it may, it's not the end of the world.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing that could really end the world if a comet or a nuclear missile or Godzilla come unearths from the sea, those are things that yeah, life's gonna be over in those situations where yeah, no, not even those situations because you never know, right?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: So again, I'm I'm just you know, I feel like no matter what situation it is, you can get help.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's help everywhere.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean if anything, talk to your friend, talk to a best friend, talk to somebody.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's always somebody out there that you could you could reach out and talk to, right?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I always always I always feel that way.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the one other thing that I always do, I look forward to stuff, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, again, this is me.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is how I do things.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for the next episode of Dragon Ball, okay?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's been on hiatus for like three, four years now, and I'm going crazy on the inside.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: But I love me some Goku.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for the next manga to come out.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for the next hero episode of My Hero Academia.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for the next episode of Mandalorian.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I got so many things I look forward to.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to wake up 5 o'clock in the morning to work out, to make myself feel better.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait for my next commission to come out.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many things I look forward to that I don't want to quit.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Quitting has never been a thing in my life.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And again, where I draw that from is from other things.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like Rocky never quit.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then again, as corny as that may sound, Rocky Balboa from the Rocky movies, to be clear, he never quit.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: So why am I quitting?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Again, these may be silly things to draw motivation from, but I draw that motivation from these people, from these things, from these ideas that I have, and don't and don't and I don't feel alone.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what JDF was feeling.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it's it's just it's a tough issue because like suicide has has affected us all at some point, right?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've had two friends commit suicide, and they stay with me to this day because one I one I feel like I could have helped.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well actually both of them.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: But it's just that point is that I fell out of contact with one and the other one was trying to reach me at a very crucial time in my life.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my first friend, you know, we were high school friends, and dude, I loved him so much.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was such a good guy.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we used to go out to the mall every time.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: He and he and the thing is that he would never like not want to do things with us.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Then as we graduate and we move on and we go our separate ways, they fall into things that could have been avoided.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now I guarantee, and this stays with me to my day, to this day, if he would have reached out, if he would have found a way to reach out to me and say, hey, I need help, I think I could have helped him.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: I really do.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the other one, and the other guy that I met, he was in the accident in the military with me.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: And um I was uh we were I was getting ready to have my first child.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And uh he was asking me, hey, I got this job opportunity up here down here in Florida.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I really want you down here.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he said.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: He said, I really want you down here.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: I said, bro, I'm about to have this baby.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: This baby's about to be here in like two weeks.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was getting out the military, I think I was getting out of the military anyway, and it and the opportunity was great.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe I was getting military fatigue and I was about to have this, I'm about to have our first child, and it's like, you know, let's let me have this first child.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Then once we have the child, we could talk about going down to Florida.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that was his reach out to me, but he never said, I'm struggling.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you can't read between the lines when you're talking on the phone, and he never let never let you know, like, hey, I'm really struggling.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so he did the same thing, committed suicide, and uh sucks.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: It sucks.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: But I carry on because he can't carry on no more.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I carry on his legacy, I carry on my other friend's legacy because I love him.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what it is, man.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta you gotta spread love, man.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's the thing that that we struggle today with.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: We struggle with telling each other how we feel.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: We tell we it's it's a it's a um it's a hardcore society right now.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's like, yeah, man, we gotta be all tough and stuff and gotta be all hard and rugged.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, dog, I'm I'm a I'm a hugger, man.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: If if the military and war show me one thing, is that screw it.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you a hug when you need a hug, man.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the way I'm always gonna be.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you need a hug, man, female, even a dog, nope, never mind.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm allergic to dogs.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Not a dog, but male, female, it doesn't matter, man.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: A hug is something that you're gonna get from me regardless of the situation, right?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: So love each other.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Bottom line, we have to start loving each other and tell people how how awesome they are.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Tell people, hey, good job today.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: You don't know how what people are struggling with?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Just hey man, you did a good job today.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Or hey, I'm good, I'm glad to see you today.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Hey man, I'm I like your smile.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Just little compliments, laughing together, smiling together, talking, just chatting it up.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: One thing about me, especially in the position I'm in right now as a manager, I don't take things seriously, like too seriously.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: As long as you don't kill nobody, we're good.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just show up for work, do your job.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: I won't chew you out, and let's have fun while we're doing it.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of times where I could chew somebody out for things, but I don't.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, what's the point?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, basically I only got two or three employees, but the point is that I want them to have fun.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want them to feel any pressure, any angst while they're at work.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: No that your boss has your back, that your manager has your back, and that he supports you 1000%.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: But it wouldn't be fair or it wouldn't be right if I did not give you tips on if you are feeling these situations.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I did look up two websites, ww.sprc.org, if you're struggling with this, and also, oh boy, the actionalliance.org too.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: See my my my own English is is really hard to read.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Tell each other you love each other, man.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's if you if anything, if you catch the W D Y M.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Just listen to the last 30 seconds of this, of this podcast.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: We love you.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: I love you.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Remember that.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I will get my phone number out, but I don't I don't think that's I don't think that's a wise decision.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, rest in peace, JDF.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: I hope everything I hope everything is well with you now.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you you affected every you affected a lot of us kids that are now in their th high 30s and 40s.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you're gonna be missed.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be missed, man.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: You're a good guy.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: With that being said, we're gonna end this episode.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Get it ready.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: You figure that the red button is the outro, and I should push that button every time.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Michael Who West, we have the WDYM.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry to rattle on a little too long about this, but uh, it's important.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: I will see you guys next week.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe later.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm out.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Girl Scout peace.