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The End
Suicide Says What We Won’t Say
The subtle, insidiousness of the things we don’t address as a society.
Part of this will be genuine, real reflection on a topic that has influenced my life since I came into this world. I will drop some facts in. Don’t expect fun facts. I will philosophize. I will try to minimize the lecture part. No one should have to lecture on this. The stats say enough. You never get the stats for the year you’re in. 2021, 48,183 people in the US died by suicide. About 70 percent were men. I didn’t see the race, but I suspect there is no equality measure for that number. Predominantly, the young men are checking out.
In Japan, there is a hanging forest. They have a place for people to suicide. Why they haven’t cut down that damn forest baffles me. In Switzerland, they have pod and are commercializing suicide, making it as easy as a getting a coke. Maybe it shouldn’t be that easy, but I am ambivalent on that. There are stats that suggest in places where it’s legal for medically assisted suicides are available, the number of suicides goes down.
Let’s say you have chronic pain. You’re maxed out on the number of pain pills because the next dose sedates you and you can’t live life asleep, and you really hate the fact that every movement is so excruciating that you’re…
