Last week, the FCC announced plans to create a suicide prevention hotline. While there is a number for people in distress and contemplating suicide to call for help, it’s 10 digits long.

But in today’s world, very few numbers are memorized at all. Instead, we opt to log them into our phones or other electronic devices.

We have 911 for most emergencies. We call 811 before we dig, while 511 gives us traffic information and 211 is the referral system coordinated by United Way to connect people to social services.

So now, we are getting 988.

Sure, 988 may not get the volume of calls that 911 gets or might never become as much of an automatic response as 911. But 988 will surely save lives.

When a person has reached a moment of despair so deep and dismal that suicide creeps into their mind and heart, do we really want to test their memory on a 10 digit hotline? Do we want them looking through a nearly extinct book we once called the telephone book for this number?

Certainly, time is of the essence and the faster they find someone to talk with, the better the chance to walk them through the crisis.

Maybe your life hasn’t been touched by suicide. That is fortunate for you, but how much longer will your luck hold out?

Depression and other causes of suicide know no boundaries. Suicide has taken the lives of rich and poor, of famous and infamous. It certainly is prevalent in colleges and universities today.

We will never know how many deaths may have been prevented if only 988 was enacted sooner. It goes to reason that suicide increases during the holiday season when people are surrounded by others reveling in gift giving, caroling and joyous celebrations. These activities tend to make a person suffering from depression feel more isolated and lost when they don’t feel part of the merriment.

They too often choose to give up.

And while 988 might not be an immediate solution or game changer, it is going to make an impact and save lives.

Make sure it gets posted in visible places you frequent. Don’t be afraid to celebrate its founding. Tell people about it.

If even one family is spared the anguish of a loved one lost to suicide, we will have accomplished a miracle.