TWITTER: Suicide in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

This is a shitty shitty thing to say… but sometimes, on those long drives to interviews… weird shitty things pop into my head. This is one of those things:
A common saying about suicide is that it is “a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” Now, I would never condone suicide; but I find that saying awfully presumptuous. There is no certainty that the problem was temporary. Especially as, post-suicide, it isn’t (always) possible to determine whether the problem could have been solved.

Far Too Common an Example: When I was a kid, a friend’s brother committed suicide. He had been desperately struggling against an addiction to Heroine. He’d be clean for a brief time, but never long enough to feel free of it. His suicide was awful and deeply hurt the family. But suggesting by assumption that he was going to beat his addiction provided he didn’t kill himself? That isn’t helpful and it isn’t necessarily true.

Another Example: Robin Williams’ suicide still rocks me to my very core. There is a short list of celebrity deaths that truly matter to me… Robin is most assuredly on that list. But Robin’s suicide brings mental illness to the discussion. Serious mental illness is (in almost every case) not a “temporary problem.” It is a lifelong struggle. I would never encourage someone to kill themselves to deal with mental illness… but suggesting that suicide was “a permanent solution to a temporary problem” when that problem is mental illness? Hurtful and ignorant.

The list continues… but I was just thinking about that on my drive. There are a lot of reasons that are certainly not “temporary problems” that people tragically take their own lives.

That being said; if you are having suicidal thoughts… please reach out. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached free of charge 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255.