Suicide is Painless. . .
It brings on many changes...These were lyrics from the hit TV show Mash about an army surgical unit during the Korean War.
Yes, many would have benefited from Anthony Bourdain's survival. His young daughter, CNN, friends, and many associated with his hit show. However, it is evident that Bourdain himself was no longer benefiting from his continued existence. He had told his daughter that he had wanted to quit the show. In puerile but forgivable fashion, the daughter would have nothing to do with it; she loved her father in the limelight and he stupidly and lovingly obliged (filial love is the stuff of Hollywood, in my opinion). CNN, of course, had a hit show that had improved ratings for the station.
Bourdain was under pressure--perhaps no more so than in his mind. He had wanted his girlfriend to direct more of his shows; maybe he saw in her a way to assuage the demands of a hit show on his. Unfortunately, he didn't even try to hire her because he felt that CNN would not foot the bill that she would command. Was there true love with Bourdain and his director girlfriend? That's one for the biographers; but it seems that, had she been more empathic, she would have directed at least a handful of shows for her chef boyfriend (she directed one, apparently, and Tony treasured it.)
All this is inconsequential to what I want to say about Mr. Bourdain's suicide and the suicides of people who had worked hard for their accomplishments only to find--in their minds--desolation in their lives. To place blame on friends and family of the suicidal is of no avail to anyone and it will never be useful in the case of adults past middle-age.
Teens and other young people are the exceptions; teens, because of their immature brains and young men and women because they are reacting to brain chemistry imbalances that could be readily corrected.
People who have already accomplished much and now feel that life is just not worth the effort anymore--or, who have lived a mundane life--should be given all the free will that God has allowed them to have. The government should keep its grimy hands out of the equation. When a man such as Bourdain no longer wants to face his mortality in the manner in which he prognosticates the final moments, he should be allowed to end his life in his manner. Any attempt to stop an older man's suicide is a product of our selfishness disguised as empathy. CNN doesn't like it; Tony's friends at CNN and elsewhere don't like it; indeed his daughter might even harbor some future resentment. His girlfriend, content to live, along with Tony, in a distant romance may face demons of her own. However, none have the right to feel guilt or to feel anything other than a bit of sadness.
What do we do when we pump a person full of serotonin in the hopes of getting rid of their depression? When we do it to a youngster, it may work wonders, but when we do it to an older adult, I think we delay the inevitable or create only shadows of a former self--I doubt it very much that we 'save' the person. What it amounts to is squeezing blood from a stone that has given all it can or all it wants to provide.
I don't have Tony's success, and I don't expect ever to produce anything that so admirably expressed the human condition vis-a-vis one of our culture's consummate loves: food. I am, however, older than Tony and I reserve the right to end my life without having to wait for a lousy prognosis that has me trekking over to Washington or Oregon State for comfortable euthanasia.
If saved by those folks manning those phones whose number was repeatedly displayed on CNN and the other networks, would Tony have sent more insight our way? A resounding, yes! Would we have had any right to squeeze him dry? That's where I part company with my fellow humans.
Yes, many would have benefited from Anthony Bourdain's survival. His young daughter, CNN, friends, and many associated with his hit show. However, it is evident that Bourdain himself was no longer benefiting from his continued existence. He had told his daughter that he had wanted to quit the show. In puerile but forgivable fashion, the daughter would have nothing to do with it; she loved her father in the limelight and he stupidly and lovingly obliged (filial love is the stuff of Hollywood, in my opinion). CNN, of course, had a hit show that had improved ratings for the station.
Bourdain was under pressure--perhaps no more so than in his mind. He had wanted his girlfriend to direct more of his shows; maybe he saw in her a way to assuage the demands of a hit show on his. Unfortunately, he didn't even try to hire her because he felt that CNN would not foot the bill that she would command. Was there true love with Bourdain and his director girlfriend? That's one for the biographers; but it seems that, had she been more empathic, she would have directed at least a handful of shows for her chef boyfriend (she directed one, apparently, and Tony treasured it.)
All this is inconsequential to what I want to say about Mr. Bourdain's suicide and the suicides of people who had worked hard for their accomplishments only to find--in their minds--desolation in their lives. To place blame on friends and family of the suicidal is of no avail to anyone and it will never be useful in the case of adults past middle-age.
Teens and other young people are the exceptions; teens, because of their immature brains and young men and women because they are reacting to brain chemistry imbalances that could be readily corrected.
People who have already accomplished much and now feel that life is just not worth the effort anymore--or, who have lived a mundane life--should be given all the free will that God has allowed them to have. The government should keep its grimy hands out of the equation. When a man such as Bourdain no longer wants to face his mortality in the manner in which he prognosticates the final moments, he should be allowed to end his life in his manner. Any attempt to stop an older man's suicide is a product of our selfishness disguised as empathy. CNN doesn't like it; Tony's friends at CNN and elsewhere don't like it; indeed his daughter might even harbor some future resentment. His girlfriend, content to live, along with Tony, in a distant romance may face demons of her own. However, none have the right to feel guilt or to feel anything other than a bit of sadness.
What do we do when we pump a person full of serotonin in the hopes of getting rid of their depression? When we do it to a youngster, it may work wonders, but when we do it to an older adult, I think we delay the inevitable or create only shadows of a former self--I doubt it very much that we 'save' the person. What it amounts to is squeezing blood from a stone that has given all it can or all it wants to provide.
I don't have Tony's success, and I don't expect ever to produce anything that so admirably expressed the human condition vis-a-vis one of our culture's consummate loves: food. I am, however, older than Tony and I reserve the right to end my life without having to wait for a lousy prognosis that has me trekking over to Washington or Oregon State for comfortable euthanasia.
If saved by those folks manning those phones whose number was repeatedly displayed on CNN and the other networks, would Tony have sent more insight our way? A resounding, yes! Would we have had any right to squeeze him dry? That's where I part company with my fellow humans.
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