It’s not right to label suicide victims ‘cowards’
Everyone, whether rich or poor, faces times in life where our sadness outweighs our happiness. It’s easy for some to say that since we all face these times, we should just deal with it. In reality, it isn’t that easy for everyone. Sometimes, sadness turns in to depression.
Depression is real to those who have experienced it. Even when others may look on and feel depression isn’t warranted for the person who is sad, it is very real to the one suffering. It is very comparable to someone suffering with other ailments. It’s not like depressed folks like being sad. They can’t stop it.
I have talked with many people who suffer with some level of depression. Most of them can control it with the use of modern medicine. However, there are some who fall so low they can’t recover. This can lead to death at their own hands.
Despite my experience in law enforcement, I was shocked this week when seeing the statistics for suicides in Cherokee County. The numbers were astonishing. Unless we know the victim personally, it’s not something we hear about. The news doesn’t report on these incidents unless there is some other factor deemed newsworthy. I’d like to think this is out of respect for the families of the victims.
Not long ago, while reading another writer’s column, they stated that suicide was a form of cowardice. That kind of statement is arrogant and a slap in the face to anyone who has ever lost someone to this tragedy. While I clearly understand that my writing does not stack up against other columnists, I can recognize insensitive statements.
Bullied children have taken their lives to escape the pain they felt from their torturers. Did that make them cowards? No. The cowards were the ones picking on the weaker child. The cowards were the system that failed to stop this type of behavior in fear of offending someone. Everyone talks about it for a few days after an incident like this takes place. Then the talk dies down until the next incident.
The number of adults who take their own lives outnumbers the kids who do so. Since I am no expert on any subject, I can only imagine there are a variety of reasons that lead to this drastic measure.
My career offered me the opportunity to see many things a person can’t “unsee.” These images stay with you unless you are some kind of freak of nature. The images aren’t paralyzing for me. Yet, I think about them from time to time. There is no pill for forgetting the sight of a mutilated body. Especially when that body is a child’s. I saw many. Each one of them having a permanent place in my memory bank.