Ethics & Religion
Column #1,980
August 1, 2019
The Horror of Soaring Suicides
By Mike McManus
The American suicide rate is at its highest level in a half century.
The number of Americans who committed suicide soared 33% from 1999 to
2017. Some 67,000 Americans took their own lives in 2017, making it the
nation's 10th largest killer. About 130 Americans kill themselves every
day. Suicide claims almost twice as many lives as auto accidents.
Suicide is the #2 killer of young people aged 10 to 24 - those in junior
and senior high school and college. More young people die of suicide
than die from cancer, AIDS, heart disease, birth defects, stroke,
pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease - COMBINED!
More than 100 young people kill themselves every week. In fact, one of
every 12 young people have attempted suicide. Many are depressed
underachievers.
However, some are genuine stars. Kelly Catlin, 23, was one of triplets
born to Carolyn and Mark Catlin. She built herself into an Olympian and
a three-time world champion in the four-bike rider group race known as
the team pursuit. She was fluent in Chinese and had been first chair
violist in her high school orchestra. She had a perfect score on the
SAT, had enrolled last fall in the computational mathematics program at
Stanford's graduate school.
Clearly, she had a very promising future. Yet she committed suicide last
month. Her sad story was recounted in a front page Washington Post
article July 30.
A more typical case was that of Graham Burton who was flunking three of
four classes at Hamilton College. Three professors at the upstate New
York college had expressed concern about Burton to college
administrators. One professor wrote the academic dean, "Obviously, what
is happening here is a complete crash and burn." He added, "I don't know
what the procedure is for contacting the student's parents, but if this
was my kid, I'd want to know."
Clearly, Hamilton should have called the parents.
However, the law views students as adults, and colleges are constrained
by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which Hamilton
interpreted to mean they could not call the parents. As the New York
Times put it, "Colleges use the law not only to protect students'
privacy but also to shield the college from conflict with parents."
THE LAW SHOULD BE REPEALED.
Sadly, there is no interest in doing so according to the American
Council on Education, the largest national organization in high
education.
Many of those committing suicide are veterans of our wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq. In a recent year, 18 a day killed themselves - 7,000 in a
year. That's more than have been lost on battlefields in a decade of
war. Some of the 2 million Americans who have served, come home
suffering from "post-traumatic stress."
What's particularly shocking is that for every veteran who kills
himself, 30 more have attempted suicide! In fact, a million Americans
have tried to kill themselves.
White men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women.
However, women attempt suicide three times as often as men, but are less
successful.
The major killer is guns. I have never had a gun in my house, because I
remember my father getting drunk and waving a pistol at my mother. Why
have a deadly weapon in the house? If you have guns in your home, I
suggest that you sell them or give them away. The Northeast, which has
tougher gun laws - have the lowest suicide rates.
People who are particularly vulnerable, according to the American
Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), are those who once attempted
suicide or those in families where a person has committed suicide or
attempted to do so, or is depressed.
AFSP has created an innovative anonymous interactive screening program
for college students which has been effective in getting depressed
students into treatment at scores of colleges. It has also created an
innovative "Out of the Darkness Community Walk" campaign that had
100,000 walkers at 50 campuses.
Unfortunately, there is a counter campaign called "Assisted Suicide," in
which some physicians are prescribing fatal drugs to patients who want
to die! Washington D.C. City Council voted 11-2 to allow physicians to
kill their patients. It has also been approved by nine states:
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey (starting in
August, 2019), Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
Oddly, each of the laws state that the act is not considered suicide,
assisted suicide, mercy killing or homicide. Rather, it is called
"medical aid in dying."
How wonderful.
However, if you or someone you know is considering suicide, have them
call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1 800 273-TALK
(8255).
You can be a life-saver.
__________________________
Copyright (c) 2018 Michael J. McManus, President of Marriage Savers and
a syndicated columnist. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
Search for any topic.
|
|
Since 1981...
2000+ Columns |
|
LATEST ARTICLE |
|
January
12, 2021: Column 2057: Trump Impeached a Second Time |
|
Recent Columns |
|
Trump is Corrupt |
|
Christian Choices Matter |
|
Who Was Mary? |
|
2020 Was A Terrible Year |
|
Suicides Rates Are Rising |
|
The Biblical Sexual Standard |
|
Thankful for Thanksgiving |
|
How to Cut the Divorce Rate in Half |
|
Divorce Rate Is Falling |
|
Latinos Deserve More Help |
|
How To Defeat Covid - 19 |
|
How To Save Marriages |
|
55 Years of Marriage |
|
How To Cut America's Divorce Rate |
|
Suicide Rate Rising |
|
Overcoming Porn Addiction |
|
The Devastation of Pornography |
|
Marriages Are Falling - But Improving |
|
Divorce Rates Are Falling |
|
Cohabitation: the Enemy of Marriage
|
|
How To Reduce Suicide |
|
How To Stop Drug Addiction |
|
Cut Federal Funds for Planned Parenthood |
|
The Horror of Soaring Suicides |
|
Make
Adoption More Appealing |
|
The Addictive Nature of Pornography |
|
Abortion Becoming Illegal |
|
Protecting Girls from Suicide |
|
The Worst Valentine:
Cohabitation |
|
Pornography: A Public Health Hazard |
|
Sextortion Kills Teens |
|
Cohabitation: A Risky Business |
|
Recent Searches |
|
gun control,
euthanasia,
cohabitation,
sexting,
sextortion,
alcoholism,
prayer,
guns,
same sex marriage,
abortion,
depression,
islam,
divorce,
polygamy,
religious liberty,
health care,
pornography,
teen sex,
abortion and infanticide,
Roe+v+Wade,
supreme court,
marriage,
movies,
violence,
celibacy,
living+together,
cohabitation,
ethics+and+religion,
pornography,
adultery,
divorce,
saving+marriages |
|