LA Times
Suicide, where it is not granted a cultural validation... as in Classical Rome, or Japan, is almost always a "side effect" of depression... whether manic-depression, (bipolar disorder)or some point on the spectrum between pure melancholia and its pendulamatic relative... perhaps the oldest of objectively described brain disorders.
I feel this... the way I feel distant storms.
Because I know. Because I remember.
I don't know, did not know, David Foster Wallace.
But he is my brother. And I am terribly saddened by what I cannot but believe was eminently preventable, and should never have happened.
My sympathies for those who were close to him, who needed and loved him... please, understand... don't misplace the blame.
Suicide, where it is not granted a cultural validation... as in Classical Rome, or Japan, is almost always a "side effect" of depression... whether manic-depression, (bipolar disorder)or some point on the spectrum between pure melancholia and its pendulamatic relative... perhaps the oldest of objectively described brain disorders.
I feel this... the way I feel distant storms.
Because I know. Because I remember.
I don't know, did not know, David Foster Wallace.
But he is my brother. And I am terribly saddened by what I cannot but believe was eminently preventable, and should never have happened.
My sympathies for those who were close to him, who needed and loved him... please, understand... don't misplace the blame.
And yet, can't we also be angry at him?
ReplyDeleteCan't we?
ReplyDeleteIs anger something we choose?
What would be the object of this anger? Would our anger be justified? Reasonable? What assumptions underlie the sense of a just cause for anger?
Only, I think, that we all sustain our sanity in part through our relationships, and that suicide is the ultimate assault against our loved ones' love. Even those of us on the outermost circle of his affections -- people who treasured his voice -- can feel betrayed. It is too late for that to matter in this case, but such obligations can sometimes stay the suicidal hand, and should.
ReplyDelete