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Driver's Seat
The long walk on a short pier
By BOB DRIVER, columnist
Article published on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006 |
The recent suicides of two young persons – Tony Dungy’s son and an Armwood High football player in Tampa – surely provoke many of us to think about the why’s and wherefores of taking one’s own life.
I’m not sure that much new has been learned or said about suicide in the past hundred years. Or 10,000 years, for that matter. The only certain thing is that nobody has the final word or the perfect point of view about suicide. In many cultures, attempted suicide is a punishable crime. Some religions forbid burying a suicide’s body in sacred ground. But other groups deem it okay to pull the plug on oneself, or to assist in the act of suicide.
If you had the power to outlaw suicide – or magically prevent its ever again occurring – would you exercise it? I don’t think I would. I know of too many cases – usually involving persons undergoing irredeemable suffering – where suicide has been the ultimate blessed escape, desired not only by the sufferer but also by his/her loved ones.
Would you – will you – one day voluntarily take the long walk on a short pier, into the waiting arms of the Man in the Red Nightshirt? Think carefully before you answer.
I took out my Bartlett’s and looked up some quotes about suicide. I’ll mention three, and let you judge their value or pertinence.
British-born author and wit Wilfred Sheed: “Suicide … is about life, being in fact the sincerest form of criticism life gets.”
The French writer Albert Camus: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.”
The German philosopher Nietzsche: “The thought of suicide is a great consolation; by means of it one gets successfully through many a bad night.”
Suicide has been called an advanced form of selfishness. The victim goes into a quiet grave, while his/her friends and family are condemned to an agony of loss, guilt, anger and (often) never knowing the answer to the question: Why?
To me, the saddest and most alarming thing about suicide is its disproportionate use by young persons. Some of them are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, but many of these young suicide victims are not. The pressures they succumb to seem to be internal, rather than from outer circumstance.
I can think of two reasons for their caving in, both related to their youth. One, they have not yet learned that suffering CAN be endured, outlasted and overcome. By surviving each dark night of the soul, we can grow stronger to deal with the next one. Secondly, many young men and women are not yet aware of the absurd, wonderful surprises that may await us if we just hang on. A person contemplating suicide sees only pain and gloom ahead. But no sky remains dark forever. If only that thought could be tattooed on our minds, at birth, perhaps fewer suicides would occur.
Send Bob Driver an e-mail at tralee71@comcast.net.
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Article published on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006
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