"Taking the Easy Way"
I look forward to growing older, so that people I know can start dying of “natural” causes rather than suicide. This isn’t a criticism of suicide. Far from it. For years I was one of those people who said things critical of suicide—probably because I had never known someone who wrestled with it and never lost someone to its snarl. That previous sentence must be amended. I was not saying things critical of suicide—I was saying things critical of the suicidal—as though that somehow helps anyone. “Suicide is the most selfish thing you can do.” “Suicide is the cowardly, 'easy' way out.” “Suicide hurts those you leave behind way more than any pain you’re feeling.” We’ll come back to this point, but first: Have you ever thought you could fight someone, like a bully, and then—in the middle of the fight you thought you were ready for—realized that the bully was way bigger and stronger than you imagined? I have. It was the 5 th grade (or 4 th or 6 th . I...
