If you've ever been depressed you "understand" the thought of suicide.

[hamsterjill]

86. A friend of mine shot herself.

We were all in shock because by all outward appearances, this woman had it together. She was smart, she was involved in several admirable causes, she had a job, she was moving up...

Then I got the phone call, and she was gone. It took me days to even accept that it was real.

We learned that she'd found out her husband was having an affair and that was, obviously, the straw that broke the camel's back when added to the other miseries that she must've hidden so well.

I remember feeling so helpless; so responsible. Why hadn't I figured it out!!! Why hadn't ANY of us figured it out and talked to her!!!

It was only after a group of us sat down with a caring counsellor who actually described to us what she must've been experiencing and explained why we didn't know (because she didn't want us to) and why she did what she did (because it IS an illness that prevents thinking logically and rationally sometimes).

It always bothered me that she chose a violent way to end things. She was SUCH a peace maker that I would have thought she would have chosen a different means to end her life. The counsellor merely said "she meant it" when she picked a gun.