There are 2 kinds of people in the world: those who are suicidal and those who are not.
Maybe there is a suicide gene, same as there is an addictive personality gene. Obviously if you have the suicide gene, your chances of having it removed from the gene pool are high
At the last L.O.S.S. meeting, a young woman who had had suicidal thoughts herself spoke up to reassure people that she did not contemplate suicide because she felt unloved or rejected or abused. She said the only person she wanted to get away from was herself.
This was extremely enlightening to me. I am grateful she shared this insight. I might never have stumbled upon it on my own.
I have regretted knowing so little about psychology in general and suicide in particular. I browsed the books about suicide in the library catalog the other day, but felt unmotivated to read the books because it seemed like too little too late.
My total ignorance about this subject did not help Maris. If I had been less ignorant, I might have recognized the signs.
The other 2 kinds of people in the world are those who prefer either Brave New World or 1984.
I would never choose to live in Brave New world because I dedicatemyself totally to the Truth; and likving in a doped-up state like the citizens of Brave New world would be extrem,ely distasteful to me. Harsh as it is, at least the citizens of 1984 knew the reality. They had to live with the reality that they destroyed history and committed other atrocities, but at least they were aware of the truth in spite of being powerless.
1984 is a grim book. It is ironically the last thing Maris read before he died.
Maris Michael Butta, 1987-2009
MARIS MICHAEL BUTTA
Maris Michael Butta, Senior Airman, son of Raymond and Deena, nee Weglarz; brother of Alexander and Philip Butta. A 2006 graduate of Gordon Tech High School, Maris was a member of the 8th Intel squadron in the U.S. Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. He was decorated with the Air Force Achievement Medal and earned the following awards: Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terror Service Medal and the Air Force Training Ribbon. In lieu of flowers, memorial donation to the Wounded Warrior Project, 7020 A.C. Skinner Pkwy., Suite 100, Jacksonville, FL 32256. Visitation Monday, 3 to 9 p.m., and Tuesday, 9 a.m., until time of service, 10 a.m., at Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home, 6150 N. Cicero Ave., Chicago. Interment St. Adalbert Cemetery.
2 comments:
To me Brave New World was more disturbing of a dystopia, because everyone within it happy. Huxley provides a challenge to contemporary thinking that says that to be happy we need to have all our cares and unpleasantness taken care. I was reminded that even a classic untilitarian like John Stuart Mill wrote that is was better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
Sam and I both really like Brave New World. Maris Butta would always argue that he liked 1984 because he said it was more closer to reality. I would debate with him that the future was more like a mix between the two books. It would just say that he was being a realist.
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