Have you ever heard of people committing crimes? Committing rape? Murder? Of course you have.

Have you ever heard of someone committing suicide? Of course you have.

In the first instances – crimes, rape, murder – “commit” implies culpability. Intent. Choice.

Culpability means responsibility for wrongdoing or failure. Blame.

Is someone who dies by suicide culpable? Hell no. They most likely had a mental health illness. They may have had a radical attachment disorder because they were apart from their birth mother for several months, a catastrophic separation that literally caused their brain to change the first year of their life. They may wonder why their birth mom placed them for adoption, what was so wrong with them when they were only an innocent baby. They may not feel like they fit in based on the color of their skin. Maybe they had a sibling with special needs who got most of the good attention from their parents. Or lost a beloved grandpa to cancer recently. Perhaps they were isolated from their good friends because of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Maybe they got in with the wrong crowd, lost kids who talked about cutting and suicide. Maybe their first and only girlfriend broke up with them in a humiliating way. Or maybe all of these things at once.

Suicide is not a choice. People who die by suicide don’t want to end their life; they want to end their excruciating pain. Their brain has tricked them into thinking there is no other solution.

That sick brain — the one they were born with or the one that developed based on life’s unfair circumstances — doesn’t listen to reason or logic. It doesn’t believe in the unconditional love others feel for the person. It doesn’t care how good life is.

By Suicide