Would you choose place between life, death?
This is the first of a two-part series on why Idahoans commit suicide, and what we can do to help — before things reach the crisis stage.
TODAY: How does it happen?
Why would you decide to end your life?
And no …
I’m not talking here about the reasoned, practical thoughts of people with incurable diseases, talking over options with their families and agreeing that a peaceful end to a good life is the best outcome for everyone.
Six states and the District of Columbia have so-called “Death with Dignity Acts” — including Washington, Oregon and Colorado.
Montana hasn’t yet codified physician-assisted suicide, but crucially, it is not illegal, either.
The bottom line is that a mentally competent Idaho resident who wishes to die rather than continuing to suffer from a terminal disease can do so without much trouble.
That’s a different issue than a 19- or 20-year-old — physically healthy with many years to live — putting a gun to his head.
Why would a young person do that?
We know the statistics: There is roughly one suicide per day in Idaho, and studies from LivingWorks suggest that 90-95 others are thinking about it, and 12 actually attempt it.
That’s just one day.
The Press and other media outlets have run stories about all the depressing numbers, along with lists of the various organizations ready to help in a crisis.
But hardly anyone can get to the most confusing piece: What might make a young person so depressed, so sick of life that he or she would rather be dead?
And while we stop to contemplate that puzzle, consider that suicide rates are increasing across the board — nationally, locally, in all age groups.
So, again …
Why?
Barbara Mace-Tucker is a licensed social worker in Coeur d’Alene, and has counseled many potential suicide candidates over the course of her practice.
To her, all those statistics come in flesh-and-blood human beings.
“Honestly, I’m frightened for our world,” Mace-Tucker said. “I’m frightened for our community.”
WHAT’S going on out there?
What is it that’s pushing more and more people to consider a leap into the abyss?
Mace-Tucker sums it up: “I hear clients say, ‘What’s the sense? What’s the use?’”
She’s heard various causes for this type of hopelessness, but a common theme is that society is changing too fast for an average person to keep up.
Technology is zooming ahead of us, social media yammers at us night and day, the nation suddenly has divided into tribes, and so on.
“I try to keep it at the micro level,” Mace-Tucker said. “It’s depressing in some ways for almost anyone to think about the world in general.
“So we try to bring it back to the personal. Think about helping yourself.
“Find a passion. Make connections. Be involved.”
Doctor and author Alex Lickerman offered a unique perspective after interviewing survivors of suicide attempts.
“They’ve wanted not so much to die as to stop living — a strange dichotomy but a valid one nonetheless,” Lickerman wrote.
“If some in-between state existed, some other alternative to death, I suspect many suicidal people would take it.”
The common thread, however, is that so many people don’t really want to live in the world they’re seeing.
We’re trapped in a society that is going a thousand miles per hour toward an unknown destination.
I’m scared just thinking of that, too.
Frankly, trend lines and common sense suggest suicide numbers will continue to increase, and we’d be fools if we’re surprised.
The world does look like crap to an awful lot of people.
The challenge is to make individual lives feel more meaningful than the madness of society in general.
We can do that. We have to do that.
Or else …
What IS the sense?
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SATURDAY: What tools do we have to fight this suicide epidemic, and how can they be deployed?
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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.
A Brand New Day appears Wednesday through Saturday each week. Steve’s sports column runs on Tuesday.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com.
Twitter:@BrandNewDayCDA