Suicide is not a Single Story

I know many will silently say to themselves that this 37 year old had been selfish to attempt suicide this way.

Those who thought otherwise also tend to be more willing to share their views publicly. Like Eric Lim and later he and others responded to another comment. See below.

My point for this post? It is actually more general. A post I wanted to write but find the effort to be too much until now.

Recently I read an Op-Ed by David Brooks from the NYT: The Danger of a Single Story. Eric Lim and his sympathizers are aware there is more than one valid way to look at suicide but Lydia Wong did not.

Mr. Brooks began his essay as follows:

In 2009 the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a fabulous TED talk called “The Danger of a Single Story.” It was about what happens when complex human beings and situations are reduced to a single narrative: when Africans, for example, are treated solely as pitiable poor, starving victims with flies on their faces.

Her point was that each individual life contains a heterogeneous compilation of stories. If you reduce people to one, you’re taking away their humanity.

He is a just a better communicator and writer than almost all of us. I always look forward to his writings.

There will be fewer quarrels and more mutual understanding if people are more open minded to more than their one narrow minded story.

Here goes one blog post, very quickly written.