All There Is

The big topic of the "day" is suicide. The taking of one's life or allowing another to assist in doing so, is a heavy subject but one that is very real for some. When a person is dying in great pain and wants to do so "with dignity"and before losing it, is one thing, but for someone who is well physically and suffering from deep depression, surely there is a solution other than taking away the greatest gift there is: life. Hearing this example, a financially successful young man of high intelligence and a discerning sense of justice, say that his desire is to take his own life and that knowing he can, helps him decide more not to, doesn't make sense to me. Life is all we have and all that matters and those whose lives are shortened by disease or some other inescapable event, suicide seems entirely an insult to all that is natural. It's unnatural. All living things strive to live, to grow, to replenish and to contribute to the earth. It makes the "why" of it all. Those who work to destroy that gift are off track and desperately need help to get back on. Instead of pondering the subject, we should be putting every effort and dollar into assisting the horrors of depression that a minority of sad humans are bending  under. Counselling is expensive and while there is a bit of it available for a short time, it simply is not enough. Our medical system often panders to those who take advantage of it to get time off work or to suck the life out of "free" medical care for silly reasons. We've seen this kind of abuse and it's abhorrent. Depression is something strange to me, but I have seen it in other people and it's hard to empathize with when it's not your burden, but it is terribly real to those experiencing it. It is obviously a mental illness and drives those with it, beyond limits that most of us will never know. The bright young man I heard speak of his desire to end his life, was in good physical health and productive in a hugely responsible position, but the burden of his mental oppression was, to him, an impossibility and one that he foresaw as being resolvable through suicide. It is resolvable. He is ill and needs something to make up for what nature did not include in his sad physiology. Whether it is medication or counselling or some other fix, it needs attention badly because he is a man who gives to us. The telling of his sad story, speaks legions and warns us to respect our very reasons for being here. When you think of human beings who are making every human effort to continue living through disease and disaster, who strive to honor their very existence, we must somehow reach out and help these others of us who can't see the beauty in simply being alive.