Suicide

[Mofo Rising]

I sure hope what I said in my post was not seen as a 'no-good' helpful platitude, because I agree with the theme of your post 100%.

My post was not a direct response to any of the others, nor meant as a criticism. I apologize if it came across as such.

Thank you, and everybody else who has posted, for sharing your stories and advice.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

As someone who has dealt with the loss of a friend through suicide, I have a lot to say.  This has been my experience, and may not be typical of others.  That said...

While "why" is always the first question, it suddenly takes a backseat to the emotional tug of war of denial versus reality.  Somehow you can't believe they're gone, but yet you have to deal with the sudden and irrevocable lack of that person's physical presence in your everyday life.  Slowly, reality sets in and you start running high and low emotionally as you try to stave off the reality.

Emotional highs and lows due to loss of a loved one puts a natural and understandable strain on those you call friends and family, and at that time, it's
a test of the true colors of said people. 

Why, you say? Because, unlike natural death, suicide is not often seen as a situation for understanding or sympathy among some people (due to the nature of the act) and trying to get someone to understand the hurt for your loss (when they fail to acknowledge that loss as an acceptable use of grief) causes some serious riffs.

However, other times you will meet people (or have friends) who are better to you than your own family, who do understand and see any loss of someone as an acceptable use of tears and grief. It can run either way...

Anyhow, through this small book I've now written, the worst part of ANY death, is dealing with it in your own private time. That's when it really, really hurts.

However, it hurts even MORE when you struggle to understand just WHY someone would take a gift as precious as life, and rob themselves of it.  It leaves you with so many questions, and it hurts when you realize that sometimes, there aren't any answers, except the ones that that person took with them to the grave.