Unexpectedly Relevant
filed in Uncategorized on Nov.24, 2002
I read a comment about a Berkeley student leaving a suicide note on her journal before jumping off one of the buildings there. Like any rubberneck driving by an accident, I went to look. To my surprise, there was some good stuff there. Namely this analysis of the value of higher education.
And on a more morbid note, I’ve always thought about how fragile some people are. Sometimes just a little comment could push someone over the edge. Like this. I wonder if that guy feels guilty. I understand where he’s coming from though. I’ve known people that were always depressed, and just didn’t want to feel better. They just wanted everyone around them to feel as bad as they did. I don’t know if you can help people like that, or if you just have to save yourself.
Nov 25th, 2002 on 4:53 am
i looked through the comments and something stood out: what do depressed people really want?
Nov 26th, 2002 on 1:05 pm
That’s a good question. I’ve been depressed before, and when I’m like that I don’t really want to be cheered up. It’s not that I’m actively trying to make people feel bad, but I want to dwell on things for some reason. I can see how trying to help someone like that would make one feel frustrated and helpless.
I guess the only answer I can give is that depressed people just want to be depressed for some reason. If they wanted help, they could easily go to a doctor and get it. I can understand the kind of pressure that a 19-year old undeclared Junior at UC Berkeley would feel, and I can’t really blame him for having been depressed.
Nov 26th, 2002 on 11:17 pm
some depressed people want to stay depressed, for what it seems like because they like feeling depressed, that’s the impression i get.
there are even those who use their depression as an excuse. like don’t do this to me, i’m depressed, you never know when i’ll snap.
sometimes i don’t know whether to be sympathetic or to smack them on the heads.