03/28/2023
Drafting the next piece on my substack 'To Be Or Not To Be' .... any thoughts... still in the rough phase lol. Check out the first few paragraphs:
We pick up the conversation from ‘Worth the While’ that posed the poignant question, “What’s life worth to you?” The universal answer is too multifacted to fully answer given the context of this piece. The consesus is clear: it should be worth it to anyone, everywhere, all at once. The tougher question is, “Why is life not worth it for so many?” Further still, “Why are certain peer populations more at risk of su***de?” Even beyond that, “What in the name of ‘world peace’ are we gonna do about it?”
Once I have a more complete answer to the last question, I will be in D.C. joining the efforts to eliminate the rampant threat of su***de. Until then, let’s reach a collective answer for addressing the growing proportion of those who prefer ‘Not To Be’. I am one of the individuals in my peer population (of those diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder [BD]) who survive the fight against the undertoe. Su***de has become an ineluctable siren song claiming tens of thousand of lives in the U.S., yearly. One out of five of those diagnosed with BD forfeit their lives because they cannot find the status quo of their lives bearable. For our purposes, I define su***de as the intentional forfeiture of life not considering the temporary context of their impermanent state of being.
I wish to use this particular language to clarify the distinction between those seeking relief from chronic painful illness as is the case with assisted su***de. Furthermore, to distinguish suicidality as never about embracing death but an attempt to hit ‘the eject button’ on life. A life that feels beyond salvaging. Suicidality being a rejection of life, where anyone might believe their remaining time will never be worth the while. The question that always crept in my head was “why bother?”
