Suicide Ain't No Couple's Dance

[catelin]

The key concept to suicide is that you fucking kill YOURSELF. Why is it, then, that someone decides to take some other poor sap along for the ride? I personally have never understood the idea of wanting to make oneself dead. I've got too much of a survivor instinct. You're in a plane crash in the Andes with me, I will be using my pocket knife to make ass steaks. No doubt. But even assuming that there's a bona fide reason for shortening your stay on the planet, why include someone else in that? As usual, my question relates to a case I'm working on. Aside from being the vivacious bon vivant my friends all know and love, I'm an ATF-trained arson prosecutor. You'd never know by looking, eh? Oh, and I mean the training on how to investigate and prosecute arsons, not how to commit them. Just figured I'd make that clear, in light of that pesky ATF/Waco dealio. So I've got this case comes across my desk where one guy decides he's going to blow himself to bits. Efficient. I have no problem with that, as long as it's away from others. However, he decides to do it in his place of employment. Pulls out the gas stove from the wall, turns the radio on, and sits down for the long sleep. A neighbor boy, about 20, smells gas. He sees the guy and runs in to pull him out of the small building. Well, suicide king gets pissed and ends up igniting the gas...building goes boom. Boy of twenty now has burns over fifty percent of his body and may not live. Suicide king has burns, but of course, not nearly as serious as the poor kid who went in to save his sorry ass. The rub in all this is that 20-year-old good Samaritan's mother got to stand by the sidelines and watch her son's clothes burn onto his body. Right in front of her eyes. Man. No good deed goes unpunished. Sometimes it sure seems that way.

Comments

Re:

[catelin.livejournal.com]

I think I was almost 27 when I started law school. I was older than most of the kids, but I never felt like I was behind. Shit, girlfriend, it wasn't like you were just twiddlin' yer thumbs!! I think you'll find being older makes the entire process more manageable. : )

Re:

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Oh well I'm just not handling the big 3-0 very well at ALL! (I'm pretty anti-birthday all around actually) GAAAAH everytime I turn around I see a news story on some wunderkid who has saved the entire rain forest and is only 19!

[catelin.livejournal.com]

Really? That surprises me. Thirty didn't bother me so much. Thirty-five bothered me a lot. Thirty-six REALLY freaked me out, because I couldn't ignore the fact that I was getting older anymore. I made my peace with it...sort of. I just keep thinking of all the great-looking women who are in their 40s...and then I remember THEY'VE probably all had work done. Heh! An older friend of mine (he's probably in his mid-fifties) told me that I should be reveling in the fact that I'm at a point where I'm equally attractive to 28 & 58 year-olds. That made me laugh! Never thought of it that way. Most of my concerns have been so superficial, though; I can't even really gripe in earnest. ; )

Cate- you are my hero

[omy.livejournal.com]

You are such an amazing woman. Writer, mother, lawyer, artist. I esteem to be half the woman you are.

Re: Cate- you are my hero

[catelin.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you are the woman I am and then some! I'm always amazed at how there are so many younger gals here that are so together, articulate, and accomplished...at your age, I was a freakin' mess! Hey, AND you like enchiladas too! : )

Sorry, make that heroine

[omy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I am curious, if you don't mind my asking, how old were you when you had your kids?

Re: Sorry, make that heroine

[catelin.livejournal.com]

I was thirty-one when I had Max. He's almost six now. I was thirty-three when I had Jacob, and he's three. They are super kids! (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?itemid=1580946) : )

Re:

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Well I'm not freaking out about the aging really...its the nagging voice in my head that keeps telling me not to waste any time. That's what drives me. Sometimes I hear a little tick tock.