Jeff Dietch committed suicide last week, bringing the yearly suicide count in La Plata County to 11. This unprecedented casualty rate is a symptom of the profound disconnection, disempowerment and despair we call life here in these United States.
Over 1,600 people have attempted suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. Only 28 survived. In an interview, each reported that two-thirds of the way down, they experienced a moment of startling clarity: They realized that all the problems they were trying to avoid were solvable, save they had just jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.
Too late, they found they desperately wanted to live. As a counselor, I see every day the hopelessness, resignation and despair that pass for a quality life in this country. It seems that from birth, many of us are steeped in powerlessness and victimhood. We’re taught that nothing we do can make a difference, that our lives have no meaning, that we are nothing.
This is the most profound of lies. The truth is that each of us is powerful beyond measure! There is no yardstick, no scale, no thermometer that can measure the dizzying scale of our beauty. We are each gorgeous, infinite, wise.
To those people who have forgotten this fact and are considering suicide, I say this: You matter. You are important. You are enough. Period. End stop.
Michael Wilkinson
Durango
