In 2000, 29,350 people committed suicide in the USA. Suicides outnumbered homicides five to three. (Source - National Institute of Mental Health). And that was before 9/11.
I have no idea where we're at now.
On June 10th, 2005, three people committed suicide at the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
This in defiance of all-out efforts by the authorities there to prevent exactly that, (through painful force-feeding of hunger-strikers and 24-hour observation, amongst other techniques, in order to prevent embarrassment to the Bush administration). There have been hundreds of suicide attempts at Guantanamo, including one man alone who has tried a dozen times.
Three weeks ago, two guys at Guantanamo attempted to kill themselves by OD'ing on antidepressants issued to them by the Americans.
Long live the Prozac Nation. Commit suicide and have fun too!
Sounds like a great way to go. Sheikh it Sheikh it baby.
Anyway, here we go, this is a true story.
I was playing golf with my best friend today. We had both skipped out of work early on a beautiful Minnesota summer afternoon.
He gets a call on his Blackberry - a Compulsory Voice Conference at 3.30. Damn!
Around the 4th tee, we find a spot where the sound of the golf carts are not transmittable and he calls his supervisor making the excuse de jour and - "please brief me".
(I admirably refrain from yelling "whaddya think driver or 3-Wood?").
Turns out some employee got fired - marched out by security, accused of sexual harassment by a couple of female employees. The Compulsory Voice Conference was to ensure that the rest of the surviving employees were informed immediately instead of through the grapevine.
Surviving?
Yeah. Because the dude proceeded to blow his brains out in the parking lot.
Why? I have no idea. Wife finds out? Career over? Who knows".
My friend, a good golfer, proceeds to make a quadruple bogey on a very easy straightaway Par 4. I didn't know the suicide guy personally but I also screwed up the hole and made a double bogey.
The news upset me too. For other reasons.
So now we're done with the round, I'm home drinking a glass of red and thinking about this guy I never met who put a gun to his head in a parking lot outside an office building in Minneapolis today and wondering why he did it and if he drove a BMW or a Lexus or an SUV of some sort and where the blood and brains ended up.
Maybe I'll end up doing a CARCHECK when his widow puts his Dodge Caravan up for sale on Carsoup. "New Paintwork!" Or maybe "New Upholstery!" Ooh, better be the good consumer and check that license, just like the informative TV ads tell me to do.
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