Why Suicide?

 After reading the article “Broncos WR Kenny McKinley found dead in apparent suicide” by Joey Bunch and Lindsey H. Jones, published by the Denver Post I was compelled to think of what would drive a professional football player, or any person to commit suicide? The article gives a brief summary of his football career and the major events leading up to his death. McKinley is described by one of his teammates as having “a big heart, a love for life.” In the article it was evident that McKinley had a large physical contribution to the team as well as an emotional contribution. Knowing this I cannot come up with a rational answer to my previous question. It seems to me that the idea of suicide is a selfish and extreme one. Everyone’s life has value and purpose. Why throw that away? The position that a person is in can always change, this is both an advantage and a disadvantage. For a person in a position where suicide has crossed their mind this is an advantage, once you have hit rock bottom the only way you can go is up.

 I don’t understand why a person would choose death over life, many people die every day who do not wish to die. These people would do just about anything to have the physical heath that some suicidal individuals possess. I have experienced a death in my own life, one of my mother’s close friends past away around 5 years ago. When this tragic event occurred I witnessed the effect it had on everyone around my mother’s friend. This event caused grief and sadness to the people that my mother’s friend cared about. This poses the question why would a suicidal person choose to hurt everyone that cares about them by taking their own life? It is once again a selfish act.  The suicidal person is choosing to take themselves out of their own misery and cause many other people misery as a result. Do not misinterpret the previous sentence, I only wish to provide you with another point of view on the situation. Suicide is a concept that affects the entire world, there are people considering it across the globe as you read this. Conclusively, after reading this article and reflecting on McKinley’s death I am still not able to rationally answer my initial question, although now I understand that really anyone could be suicidal even professional football players that are described as having “a love for life.”