Arrival and regrets

Louise Banks: If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?Ian Donnelly: Maybe I'd say what I felt more often. I-I don't know. (from the 2016 movie Arrival)Arrival is a film about difficult, life-altering choices masquerading as a space alien drama. That's ... Continue reading

Survivor’s guilt

You had one job! An internet memeParents are supposed to keep bad things from happening to their kids. That's the rule and everybody knows it. If something terrible happens to a child, our first thought is often, Where were the parents?, not, There, but for the grace of God, go I.If you've ... Continue reading

Can I be thankful?

While most of America celebrates Thanksgiving, my calendar will mark the fifth week since my son committed suicide. What do I have to be thankful about?Last Thanksgiving, I was thankful that my beloved son had survived one more year with his crippling depression. He'd lost his job, yet ... Continue reading

When suicide sat down to dinner

“After you were born, your mother told me: 'We're just here to be memories for our kids.'”Cooper saying goodbye to Murphy in the movie InterstellarI barely remember my father, and what “memories” I have might be manufactured, for all that I know. I suspect most of them are just impressions ... Continue reading

From despair to hope

The actor Jim Carrey, 53, and Cathriona White, 28, were on and off lovers in the modern way of things. They apparently started up their relationship again in May, only to separate again in the last few weeks. This time, the breakup seems to have been too much for White, who committed suicide, ... Continue reading

Looking for life

A new five-year analysis of the nation's death rates ... found that the suicide rate among 45-to-54-year-olds increased nearly 20 percent from 1999 to 2004, the latest year studied, far outpacing changes in nearly every other age group. — Midlife Suicide Rises, Puzzling Researchers, Patricia Cohen, ... Continue reading

Forgiving our fathers

Susanna: I think you're exaggerating. You were his only child, his son, his blood. In this photo he doesn't look like a man who doesn't love his son. Charlie: Nothing I did was good enough for that guy. Don't you understand that? —Rain Man, 1988 Bonnie: He's not afraid of losing. He's afraid of ... Continue reading