Suicide and the Economy, a Troubling Trend

Since I didn't live through the Great Depression, I can't directly relate to the desperation those in need, without work, housing, or sustenance endured. I have noticed, however, an enormous rise in the murder-suicide instances in the past year. It's a terrifying trend, and one I hope to see fade with the upswing of the economy. Unfortunately, no one has seen the economy bounce back as we would like.

As some of you know, my husband and I restore old Volkswagens. Although it's a relatively large community of people across the country, it has the feeling of family. We may disagree on what someone does to their car; perhaps we have said we wished someone had left something stock, or something petty like that, but we tend to be a close community.

So imagine our shock when last week a member of the VW community, with a car restoration company that had been successful before this recession, dropped his four year old daughter off with her grandparents, drove home, and killed his young wife before turning the gun on himself.

In this economy, I have seen a massive amount of murder-suicides in Las Vegas, and can only assume when someone loses their home, job, and dignity, they go off the deep end and commit a heinous act on those they love the most. I'm certain if you read the news in your community, you too will see this disturbing trend more often these days.

I have dealt with suicide before, when my brother's best friend shot himself in the head after his wife had an affair with another man. Unfortunately, my brother was in Sweden at the time, and I had to attend the funeral of a man who was like my brother. I saw the devastation in the eyes of his family members, including his little sister and mother who found his body. I can't tell you how angry I was at R for taking his own life, and the sheer selfishness of his brutal act.

I can't stress enough to people who are suffering right now that suicide (or murder-suicide) is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Believe it or not, as a country, we won't remain on our knees forever. I tell people all the time that if you've fallen on your ass, the only other place to land from there is your feet.

This is our Great Depression, and like those who have experienced it before us, we too will survive.

I want to tell you about a great man I know. He served his country in the Army, and when his time was up, he served as a civilian working at Point Mugu in California. He calibrated the timing and test equipment for missiles, weather, and communications. I'm honored to say he is my father in law.

He also lived through the Great Depression in Oklahoma, with twelve siblings.

I'm sure when someone mentions Oklahoma and the Great Depression, people think of the Grapes of Wrath, and I know from my father in law's history, it was quite bad. Eventually, just like the Joads family in Steinbeck's great novel, my father in law's family followed that rough path to California. But not before the Depression was over. They suffered through those times in Oklahoma, and didn't resort to killing anyone to survive.

They grew what they could in the middle of a drought, and hunted whatever wildlife they could, often surviving on squirrel meat to get by. I'm sure you can imagine the sheer amount of squirrels it took to feed a family of 14. The squirrel population, I'm certain, was well decimated in their area by the time the Depression had run its course. Sometimes they survived on ketchup sandwiches, and they were grateful for whatever they had. And they still didn't take the lives of their family members in a cowardly act. There is no justification for something like that.

All of my father in law's siblings went on to greatness, and survived one of the darkest times in American history. To me, he is a legendary figure who helped make this country great.

We will be great again. All we need to do is remember to help our neighbors through these desperate times, rely on each other, not the government to help us, and take a leaf from my father in law's book and remember that country and duty come first. Don't hand your dignity away to a government that considers you nothing but a peon; that is more than happy to throw away your lives and your future to bigger government, handouts, bailouts, and feel good laws that take away your rights one at a time. In times of trial, we can only depend on each other.