The stats

The Stats

“Approximately 31,655 individuals complete suicide each year…that’s 86.7 people each day…one person approximately every 17.2 minutes.”

I remember watching the clock, gazing up dramatically with teenage eyes each 17min or so marking each persons passing like my own small memorial to their death.

I read on through an article devoted to the subject and noticed how it refered to each suicide as a completed suicide. “Women are more likely to attempt suicide but men are more likely to complete it.”

…Like the rest of us just havent finised yet.

I read on...” Note that a firearm is, by far, the most common method for suicide. (55% of all suicides are committed with a firearm.) Thus it is imperative that a suicidal person not have access to a firearm. If you know someone who is suicidal and owns a gun, call 911 immediately...” I would never use a gun. Too messy. An expected death should be beautiful.

“Hanging (or suffocation) is used in about one out of five suicides, which is why you can never leave an acutely suicidal person alone for even a second. People who have died by hanging have used virtually every conceivable thing to hang themselves with, such as electric cords, belts, sheets, etc. Again, never leave an acutely suicidal person alone…” I imagined all the things made of string and rope and cordes that someone might hang themselves with. Seemed comical almost. I pictured some random person with leagions of rope and string around their necks hanging limply from a celealing fan, or rafter or some other steady object.

“Poisoning accounts for slightly less than one out of five suicides. It is very easy for a suicidal person to obtain over the counter drugs and then overdose on them, especially when the drugs are combined with alcohol.” I think this one would be more my style. Much easier to make the decision when your mind and inhibitions are at bay.

Because drugs could be hidden virtually anywhere, you need to get immediate help for someone who is acutely suicidal.”

“The three most common methods of suicide – firearms, hanging, and poisoning – account for 92.3% of all suicides.”

“Although many believe that jumping off a building (or falling) is a common suicide method (because when it happens there usually is a lot of news coverage about it), in actuality only about 2% of all suicides occur by this method…”

Jumping from a building is something ive thought of nearly everytime Ive looked down from a tall building. Like a foreign impulse realesd from somewhere within. Peering ever so interested over the edge. Afraid and yet eager. Everytime Ive looked out off a high bridge the same thoughts came to mind… but Im not sure if I could. It would be easy in a way I suppose. One last step and there is literally no turning back. Although I imagine those last few seconds before hitting the pavement would be an histeria ending in blackness.

And my favorite is that more people die from suicide each year than homicide. We are much more apt to take are own lives than the lives of others. I thought about that for awhile. Its funny really and true.

I thought of all the times in my life when i watched out for strangers or double checked a locked door at night. Or imagined someone hiding in the house ready to attack once they thought I was asleep…just like villisca I imagined. Someone in the attic ready to murder everyone in the house with seemingly no reason at all.

I thought of all the anxiety that can cause a person contrasted with the beauty and ease of planning ones own end. Such a strange juxtaposition of vurtially the same thing. Death.