Salvation at Hand?
Last night I was up at Nicola's with Dennis and Nicola's friend, Lisa. As always, people get the ying when the word suicide is mentioned, much less that this blog exists. Lisa was no exception. Bless her.
She was, in a way, attempting my salvation by provide a list of what there is to be living for. But as I suggested, that list was the list of a much younger person: sex, alcohol, friends. Of course, I either don't have those experiences or have any interest in them. So what is there to live for? That is a good question. The answer - as a bottom line - might be to live for other people. There simply aren't any of those people around. Not to mention that for a minority of people, those that have strong ties (children, spouses, dependents) these ties to other people are not strong enough to sustain them.
Are other people worth it? As Jonathan Swift said "I love Dick and Jane, it's mankind I can't stand." The truth of that statement stands. Do I have some connection to Dennis, Nicola, and Lisa - in descending order of how long I have known them? Or is the declining order of the world - from allocation of resources, to the general directionless of the efforts of our species the trump card?
Either way, those thoughts are merely the back story. As I told Lisa, the last person I met who slept with someone to save them: She was 13 and he was 14 when she tried to save him. She got pregnant and dropped out of her genius high school program. They got married, he went to college at 16. When he got out he started working on the MX missile. A few years later she went back to school. The a few years later she discovered he was sexually abusing both the 8 year old girl and the 6 year old boy. When she confronted him, he kidnapped the kids and disappeared for 8 years. Reunited with her kids, all three are in therapy. Great. Nothing like trying to save someone.
Just as the Dave Reimer story illustrates, suicide is not a child of the moment. Rather it is the apex of a period of time, perhaps a quick time for teen suicides, in some cases, but for adult suicides, no doubt the duration of one's life. Just as there is no quick cause of the circumstances that drive suicide there is no quick solution, either.
She was, in a way, attempting my salvation by provide a list of what there is to be living for. But as I suggested, that list was the list of a much younger person: sex, alcohol, friends. Of course, I either don't have those experiences or have any interest in them. So what is there to live for? That is a good question. The answer - as a bottom line - might be to live for other people. There simply aren't any of those people around. Not to mention that for a minority of people, those that have strong ties (children, spouses, dependents) these ties to other people are not strong enough to sustain them.
Are other people worth it? As Jonathan Swift said "I love Dick and Jane, it's mankind I can't stand." The truth of that statement stands. Do I have some connection to Dennis, Nicola, and Lisa - in descending order of how long I have known them? Or is the declining order of the world - from allocation of resources, to the general directionless of the efforts of our species the trump card?
Either way, those thoughts are merely the back story. As I told Lisa, the last person I met who slept with someone to save them: She was 13 and he was 14 when she tried to save him. She got pregnant and dropped out of her genius high school program. They got married, he went to college at 16. When he got out he started working on the MX missile. A few years later she went back to school. The a few years later she discovered he was sexually abusing both the 8 year old girl and the 6 year old boy. When she confronted him, he kidnapped the kids and disappeared for 8 years. Reunited with her kids, all three are in therapy. Great. Nothing like trying to save someone.
Just as the Dave Reimer story illustrates, suicide is not a child of the moment. Rather it is the apex of a period of time, perhaps a quick time for teen suicides, in some cases, but for adult suicides, no doubt the duration of one's life. Just as there is no quick cause of the circumstances that drive suicide there is no quick solution, either.
posted by fredsoffa at 7:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home