Carl Remick wrote:
>
> Here it is, Enron ex-vice-chairman J. Clifford Baxter suicide note,
> addressed to his wife:
>
> "I am so sorry for this. I feel I just can't go on. I have always tried to
> do the right thing, but where there was once great pride, now it's gone. I
> love you and the children so much. I just can't be any good to you or
> myself. The pain is overwhelming. Please try to forgive me. Cliff."
>
An overwhelming number of suicides, whatever their immediate occasion, have clinical depression as their general context. And what all sufferers from depression will tell you is that we can't describe the pain. It is a pain that will not be ignored. Doesn't help much, does it? It's the best I've ever been able to do when describing depression to those who have never experience it. And extreme depression also feels as though someone had poured Karo syrup over your brain. You lose your powers of articulation. Can you imgagine me being inarticulate? I have been. Utterly incapable of making even a mildly complicated point. I couldn't have written a less "fake" note on such an occasion. And fear of bringing pain to relatives, friends, etc. is one of _the_ major barriers to suicide. Of course he would ask for forgiveness, knowing it would not be given.
That note rings wholly true to me.
Carrol