An Act Of Disrespect, Cowardice, and Ignorance

Yesterday was a day of gratitude here in the states. People all over the country sat down with family and friends and shared not only a big dinner, but also in each others lives, catching each other up on the good and the bad that they had to endure since the last big gathering.

Today I received a text message from a-brother-from-another-mother close friend that one of our mutual acquaintances ended his own life last night.

That hit me hard.

I didn't know the acquaintance in question well, but I knew him well enough to be completely mystified as to why he chose to take his own life. He was generally a high-spirited guy, always smiling, always enjoying life. Or at least it appeared that way to me.

And now I am angry at him. Angry and disgusted. 

He left behind a devoted wife and beautiful children, the oldest just 11.

Suicide is selfish, plain and simple. I type that and I immediately chastise myself, thinking, "What a minute, you have no idea what demons he was dealing with, you have no idea what mental stresses or difficulties this man may have been wrestling with on a daily basis, you can't judge him."

But then I thought, "No. He chose a holiday, a holiday of a specific nature, for a specific reason. To cause a lifelong trauma for those who survived him".

I think of his wife, and his children, and his friends, and I get angrier. 

I do not possess enough knowledge of the human psyche to understand what causes a person to want to end their own life. 

I have, however, read a number of books that cover the topic, spurred on by the suicides of a few people I have known.

But all I've really garnered from those books is that people who want to commit suicide usually succeed eventually, and that the demographic in the U.S. that is most likely to commit suicide is white males.

7 out of 10 suicides are white males.

Why? What is the causation? And where is the media outcry?