Comments on: Suicide http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:21:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Amanda http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-3040 Amanda Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:05:52 +0000 http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-3040 re: "And yet, how important, how very, very, very important to love and to be kind in a world that is so often unforgiving." ~I guess some of us should ask ourselves how often we act like the "world." So wrapped up in our own judmental-selves...forgetting our own former (bi)curious and alternative natures - which "friends" have accepted with open and whole hearts. Whether it be social deviants that engage in gambling/sexuality/death/taboo/ignorance/drugs - who among us is not guilty at times of being less than we can be. I guess the "deviant" is in the eye of the beholder? Sometimes though...it's just simply IRONIC. ---- Megan, it's nice to see that you can still even respect and love the memory of your friend. Please continue to try and pass that love on. re: “And yet, how important, how very, very, very important to love and to be kind in a world that is so often unforgiving.”

~I guess some of us should ask ourselves how often we act like the “world.” So wrapped up in our own judmental-selves…forgetting our own former (bi)curious and alternative natures - which “friends” have accepted with open and whole hearts.

Whether it be social deviants that engage in gambling/sexuality/death/taboo/ignorance/drugs - who among us is not guilty at times of being less than we can be.

I guess the “deviant” is in the eye of the beholder?

Sometimes though…it’s just simply IRONIC.
—-
Megan, it’s nice to see that you can still even respect and love the memory of your friend. Please continue to try and pass that love on.

]]> By: Fergus http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2702 Fergus Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:44:32 +0000 http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2702 Wow.. No one can be sure what that taxi driver eventually did that night. I suspect that hearing the opinion of such a caring person (in his own language) would have helped a great deal. Wow.. No one can be sure what that taxi driver eventually did that night. I suspect that hearing the opinion of such a caring person (in his own language) would have helped a great deal.

]]> By: aaaaa http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2695 aaaaa Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:02:37 +0000 http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2695 hi, megan. you are such a kind and caring person. i hope you won't feel guilty or something like that. there is nothing you can really do. i went through a period of depression before and i even went to see a mental doctor. at that time, noting could cheer me up, no one can help and i was sheer perssive, and even the mental doctor can only analyze for me. she can't solve my problem so she can't cure my depression. the case you met is the same, you can't change his attitude or solve all his problem then you won't be of help, except some kind and temparary consoling words. hi, megan. you are such a kind and caring person. i hope you won’t feel guilty or something like that. there is nothing you can really do. i went through a period of depression before and i even went to see a mental doctor. at that time, noting could cheer me up, no one can help and i was sheer perssive, and even the mental doctor can only analyze for me. she can’t solve my problem so she can’t cure my depression. the case you met is the same, you can’t change his attitude or solve all his problem then you won’t be of help, except some kind and temparary consoling words.

]]> By: Christine http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2652 Christine Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:11:28 +0000 http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2652 Hi Megan, There was nothing you could do. Someone intent on taking their lives in such a way can not be saved by strangers. We can give the taxi driver the benefit of the doubt and perhaps assume that he went home that night and saw his wife and kids and had a second thought. I'm not sure if that would make you feel better. I know from personal experience that when someone is intent on taking their own lives, there really isn't anything you can do so my reason for leaving this comment is in the hopes that you feel better about it. Like Humanaught, I too used to think that suicide was someone's cowardly easy way out. Until my sister killed herself in 2004 one month after I was a bridesmaid at her wedding and just 3 days after my husband and I signed our marriage certificate at city hall with all intents and purposes of having her be our wedding planner. She was a straight A student. Harvard undergrad early admission. Harvard MBA. Traveled the world. Worked at the top management consulting firm and then the top software consulting company. A wonderful husband who adored her and at 30, her whole life ahead of her. She of all people would have been the perfect person to call a coward for throwing so much away...until we've experienced depression in that deep of a manner, I don't feel we're totally capable of understanding nor or we in a position no matter how close we are to tell the person to snap out of it. There was nothing you could do. Trust me, it's taken me 3 years to tell myself the same thing. I do worry though about those in China. At least here in the U.S. we have every resource and support network available to those who are contemplating suicide and asking for help. There's no issue of "face" or "pride". Depression is not looked down upon or hidden away to the extent that it is in China. All the best, Christine Hi Megan,
There was nothing you could do. Someone intent on taking their lives in such a way can not be saved by strangers. We can give the taxi driver the benefit of the doubt and perhaps assume that he went home that night and saw his wife and kids and had a second thought. I’m not sure if that would make you feel better.

I know from personal experience that when someone is intent on taking their own lives, there really isn’t anything you can do so my reason for leaving this comment is in the hopes that you feel better about it.

Like Humanaught, I too used to think that suicide was someone’s cowardly easy way out. Until my sister killed herself in 2004 one month after I was a bridesmaid at her wedding and just 3 days after my husband and I signed our marriage certificate at city hall with all intents and purposes of having her be our wedding planner.

She was a straight A student. Harvard undergrad early admission. Harvard MBA. Traveled the world. Worked at the top management consulting firm and then the top software consulting company. A wonderful husband who adored her and at 30, her whole life ahead of her. She of all people would have been the perfect person to call a coward for throwing so much away…until we’ve experienced depression in that deep of a manner, I don’t feel we’re totally capable of understanding nor or we in a position no matter how close we are to tell the person to snap out of it.

There was nothing you could do. Trust me, it’s taken me 3 years to tell myself the same thing.

I do worry though about those in China. At least here in the U.S. we have every resource and support network available to those who are contemplating suicide and asking for help. There’s no issue of “face” or “pride”. Depression is not looked down upon or hidden away to the extent that it is in China.

All the best,
Christine

]]> By: The Humanaught http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2631 The Humanaught Sun, 09 Sep 2007 02:51:39 +0000 http://www.meganshank.com/blog/suicide/#comment-2631 Amazing post Megan. I think there needs to be a certain amount of Daoism when facing suicide. Personally, unless it has to do with mercy, I believe it's a cowardly action. That said, out of all the traits a person can have, cowardliness is not one I've ever used as a deciding factor on loving or not loving someone. You, as I'm sure you know, did right by the taxi driver, and by -M- as well. Contrary to most things, I think with our emotional lives our intentions hold more weight than the results. Amazing post Megan. I think there needs to be a certain amount of Daoism when facing suicide.

Personally, unless it has to do with mercy, I believe it’s a cowardly action. That said, out of all the traits a person can have, cowardliness is not one I’ve ever used as a deciding factor on loving or not loving someone.

You, as I’m sure you know, did right by the taxi driver, and by -M- as well.

Contrary to most things, I think with our emotional lives our intentions hold more weight than the results.

]]>