Yesterday I posted here about suicide, a topic much in the news right now. My sister and I spoke coincidentally by phone, and I happened to mention the post and asked her for a reaction. She gave the piece good marks overall, but pointed out that the dichotomy I had set up between heroism and cowardice might be false, that most suicides occur outside of that comparison, that they result from hopelessness, not cowardice.
My sister is correct.
My sister is correct.
Even when I was writing that part of the chapter, and then reviewing the piece before making it public, the comparison kept giving me pause. I kept reading and reading those two paragraphs.
So this morning I am asking myself: Is my comparison fair and just?
I don’t believe it is.
Is it valid?
No.
Let me explain.
A person suffering horrific physical pain—a wounded soldier abandoned on a battlefield, a woman being eaten up by some terminal cancer—might give way to suicide.
Similarly, a human being suffering horrific mental and spiritual tortures, like the people I addressed in the article, choose suicide not necessarily from weakness, but from a descent into a hell of hopelessness, a hell unlit by the slightest glimmer of light. They reach a point where they can’t think clearly, a place where they are so bogged down in their misery they can go no farther.
It is for those people who have lost their way (I number myself among them) that I wrote the chapter and the book from which it is taken.
My sister, who has worked as an editor and a hospice nurse, gave me some wise advice.
Time for more revision.
One last note: if you or someone you know is considering suicide, and feel there is nowhere to turn for help, please know you can find that help. Follow the advice in the article. Talk to someone. Call The National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255.
So this morning I am asking myself: Is my comparison fair and just?
I don’t believe it is.
Is it valid?
No.
Let me explain.
A person suffering horrific physical pain—a wounded soldier abandoned on a battlefield, a woman being eaten up by some terminal cancer—might give way to suicide.
Similarly, a human being suffering horrific mental and spiritual tortures, like the people I addressed in the article, choose suicide not necessarily from weakness, but from a descent into a hell of hopelessness, a hell unlit by the slightest glimmer of light. They reach a point where they can’t think clearly, a place where they are so bogged down in their misery they can go no farther.
It is for those people who have lost their way (I number myself among them) that I wrote the chapter and the book from which it is taken.
My sister, who has worked as an editor and a hospice nurse, gave me some wise advice.
Time for more revision.
One last note: if you or someone you know is considering suicide, and feel there is nowhere to turn for help, please know you can find that help. Follow the advice in the article. Talk to someone. Call The National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255.