depressing news... - Page 2

OP · 03-11-2008, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WearyEagle

Its hard to explain suicide. I've attempted it several times when I was much younger. Sometimes the desire to "just give up" is overwhelming("he doesn't sleep, he isn't dead . . . he's just escaped the dark dungeon of life"). Thank goodness for modern medicine's incredible psychological drugs. My cousin from a small Iowa town, childhood friend for years, did just that, killed himself. Facing certain prison time for his 11th DUI a year ago, poor guy, he just didn't want to continue. Sometimes its very hard for us "survivors" to see this coming. We frequently are just not aware of the private hell those around us are going through. Always reminds me of a poem by Edwin Robinson which says its so succinctly:

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace;
In fine we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

To the troubled, weary mind it isn't tragic . . . its an escape.

Thanks Gary
and sorry to hear about your troubled past and your cousin.

Jgrden · 03-11-2008, 09:51 AM

Please do not take offense to the following question but it begs further conversation. Mr. O.P.'s employee certainly does not seem to fit this line of query. It sounds as though the O.P.'s contributed more human kindness and love than anyone could expect.

I am remorseful when I hear of lives being lost for any reason and wonder about it. Here my question: are the people who commit suicide the ones we would have condemned for mass killings had they not chosen to take their own life??

I have, in he past, questioned the reason behind taking a person's life when it hits the news, even if it is their own. I cannot recall a female mass murderer. What can prevent loss of life (murder, mass murder, suicide) under these circumstances? I still think the professionals are not doing their job in studying these issues.

vettegirl · 03-11-2008, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jgrden

Please do not take offense to the following question but it begs further conversation. Mr. O.P.'s employee certainly does not seem to fit this line of query. It sounds as though the O.P.'s contributed more human kindness and love than anyone could expect.

I am remorseful when I hear of lives being lost for any reason and wonder about it. Here my question: are the people who commit suicide the ones we would have condemned for mass killings had they not chosen to take their own life??

I have, in he past, questioned the reason behind taking a person's life when it hits the news, even if it is their own. I cannot recall a female mass murderer. What can prevent loss of life (murder, mass murder, suicide) under these circumstances? I still think the professionals are not doing their job in studying these issues.

I don't think ALL suicidal people have the propensity for killing others, but in the cases of "school shooters", "mall shooters", etc. I do think these are people that want to escape some misery, but they are also angry enough that they want to exact revenge on their tormentors (either real or imagined) before they "go out with a bang". It's still very sad in these cases that they couldn't reach out for help, but I think once you reach the point of thinking of taking your own life your perceptions are such that maybe you think you ARE reaching out for help and nobody is listening? Since suicides always seem to be a shock even to the people closest to them, perhaps you have turned your thoughts and emotions so far inward that you feel them intensely, but they are hard for others to pick up on - but they are so intense to you that you don't see how anyone else is not picking up on them??

I agree this is a subject that should be studied more - especially since with e-mail, texting, etc. our society is becoming more impersonal and warning signs are probably harder to pick up on.