I couldn't bring myself to write on this topic yesterday as it is just such a downer, but it deserves some comments and I think I'm ready to write on the issue a bit today.

Yesterday I went to my favorite Starbucks location and received the bad news that one of the regular baristas (and one of my favorites) there had just lost her husband over the weekend.  It seems that he had taken his own life and in doing so had left behind his wife and the rest of his family.

It's a tragic situation as this poor young lady had, to my knowledge, done nothing to warrant this sort of hurt and pain in her life.  Apparently her husband, all of 21 years of age, was a manic depressive.  He took his own life by shooting himself.  In taking the easy way out and killing himself he ended his pain, but has now added a lifetime of pain to this poor young lady.  For the rest of her life, she'll be wondering what she did, or didn't do, that led to this result.  The truth is probably nothing, but unfortunately she'll always have those questions and even if she is almost certain about it, there'll always be a tiny bit of doubt and questioning to nag away at her.

Suicide is most DEFINITELY NOT painless.  That theme song from M*A*S*H was wrong about that for sure.  There is almost always someone, somewhere, that is touched by the loss and hurt in more ways than the person that committed suicide will ever know.

I feel incredibly sorry for my friend (the barista).  She'll be carrying this burden for quite some time.  I hope she gets through things in a way that brings her peace with what happened, but it will likely be something that wears on her for a while.  Her co-workers, and her friends will be there for her and hopefully she'll lean on them and take comfort from them. 

It's all part of the web of people that are touched by such a tragedy when it occurs.  Though the person that commits suicide never knows it, the events they undertake do have an impact and effect on many people.