Suicide Death Notes

"The future is just old age and illness and pain.... I must have peace and this is the only way."

-Suicide note by James Whale, film director, d. May 29, 1957

"I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time."

-Suicide note by Wendy O. Williams, punk rock performer, d. April 6, 1998

"I feel certain that I'm going mad again. I feel we can't go thru another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices"

-Suicide note by Virginia Woolf, author, d. March 28, 1941

What a morbid subject, I hear you saying. Well, yes, I guess it is. But one way of trying to understand why people kill themselves is by reading what they have written before they ended their lives. I feel we have to listen to what's being said and try to read between the lines a little.

Obviously committing suicide is something that most of us wouldn't even contemplate but for some people it is a very real way to escape. Whether it be from terrible pain, mental or physical, circumstances they are unable or unwilling to deal with, a situation they can no longer cope with or some other reason. The trials and tribulations of this world sit heavily on the shoulders of some and maybe they think that death is a welcome release. It could be that, after a lifetime of battle and exhaustive attempts to help themselves they have just given up hope. Sad, but true.

So why do some people leave behind these death notes?

I believe that for some it's a last desperate attempt to make people understand the terrible place they are in. For others it's a case of being orderly (to not explain would seem rude). For yet others it's to leave instructions.

Whatever the reason, I think it's a good thing. I would imagine there is nothing worse than a loved one committing the act of suicide and yet not really knowing why. Of course, knowing the reason why somebody has taken their own life is small comfort in itself, but it can help.

Death notes are a source of fascination for a lot of people. In some cases I think it's because we want to know whether we can find some sort of 'truth' in them; a sort of divine message left by the dead. I doubt that there is... It seems to me that most death notes are just a clear indication of the fact that we really are still fragile creatures in this sometimes unforgiving world...