Some powerful thoughts from my friend and fellow therapist, Dr. Rod Ellis, regarding the aftermath and opinions of some about the death of Robin Williams. --------------------- Ive read some pretty harsh comments today on a few blogs and walls about Robin Williams in general and suicide in particular. Ive written a few responses, some about the biochemistry of depression and suicide, some gracious, some a little less than gracious. Hopefully, as the day has progressed and my outrage had diminished Ive come to a better place to respond appropriately. I wanted to share the one that I believe to be the most gracious and useful here. It was written in response to a thread in which those who have committed suicide are referred to as selfish. Selfish is an interesting term to use to describe someone who is desperate, hopeless, and broken beyond anything that most of us ever experience. If we have not ourselves been to that dark, awful place of desolation we cannot know what the suicidal feel. I think it arrogant of us and perhaps a bit selfish in itself to assume a throne of judgment from which we deign to speak the minds of the fallen and judge their motives. I understand that God abhors the taking of life, and that He is stricken by the very thought that someone might take his/her own. Yet I think in His grace and mercy and tenderness it is not hatred of the suicidal person that He feels. I think He feels compassion and tremendous sorrow at their pain. I think He calls us to feel the same. I do not believe it is our right to sit in judgment within the ranks of the broken and claim to know either the hearts or the fates of those who take their own lives. Rather, I believe it is our place to feel the compassion and sorrow that God feels. And I believe it is our place to examine our own lives to see what we have done and what we can do to help make this fallen world a place where such things do not occur. Such, I believe, is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 02:44:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015