Tragedy at Carousel Center

While spending the night with my family at Carousel Center, a mall complex in Syracuse,   the night took a tragic turn.  In the atrium of the mall a 21 year old man jumped from the 6th floor balcony in attempted suicide. Unresponsive at the scene,  he was taken to a local hospital and was later pronounced dead.  

There are several sad things that concern this story.  The first is simple. There were plenty of places where this man could have gotten help. There are people that give their entire lives to help those with illnesses like he had.  The fact that help would have resulted in totally different choices and one less death to depression and suicide is an absolute tragedy.  

Another horrible thing that involves this story is how little people actually know about his illness – Depression. When the story hit a local website, there were people commenting and calling this man selfish. This man was not selfish – not at all.  Only ignorance can lead to this kind of comment. The fact is, depression corrupts the way a person thinks.  This man did not have the ability to make the right decision. He was not in the state of mind to know the difference from right to wrong.  Chances are he did not realize the world around him – the fact that there were shoppers and children all around him.  He simply did not have the ability to think for others or even for himself and for all we know, he might have decided then and there that he wanted to end his life.  This man was not selfish.  He was under the control of Depression. 

The absolute worst things about this story are the choices those surrounding him made.  If you were to fall or jump from a 6th floor balcony while surrounded by hundreds of people,  would you want people taking pictures of you?  Would you want your face and battered body posted all over the internet?  If not, then why would you do the same to someone else?  Those that did so had about the same amount of judgement as the man himself.  Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking when they do things like this. 

To conclude this post,  my heart goes out to the family and friends of Michael.  Depression is a terrible illness.  I can say this from personal experience.  I have seen what it can do to a person and what it can do to their loved ones.  The unfortunate set of circumstances is that, in this case,  help was not being received. I hope that this event will, in its tragedy,  be an eye opener for those who have little knowledge about depression.

Youtube Suicides

After viewing the video I talked about in my last post, I came to wondering how many of these videos do or have existed. After using the term ’suicide’ to search Youtube I found that all of the ones I clicked were suicides but most of them were obviously fake. Some were supposed to be funny but as far as I’m concerned, there is nothing funny about suicide. I’ve known suicidal people. I’m related to one who was. There is nothing funny about suicide. It is not right to post a video on the internet that makes fun of or jokes about suicide.  If someone wants to post a real suicide, with all seriousness, I urge and beg them to get help instead of taking their own life. There are people that live to help those going through Depression and similar cases. They can transform your life. So, my theme of this post is this: If you are suicidal or depressed, please make the ‘pro-life’ decision and get help. There are places in every city that are dedicated to helping and healing people who need it. They can and will make a difference in your life.

Real or edited?

So I was on Youtube today and I found a strange and somewhat disturbing video. It appeared to be taken from the security camera of a store or business aimed at the parking lot. A car drove up. The engine cut. The headlights went out. A few seconds passed, then BAM. A gun goes off and a there is a flash of light followed by the unending sound of a car horn (possibly from a body falling onto the steering wheel). The question I and the few viewers have is this: was it real or staged or edited?Decide for yourself.