I would like to commend Laurie Johnson for a well-written column on suicide in the March 25 issue of The Northern Star. Although I can understand the majority of her views, there is one particular statement that troubles me. She states, “The need to talk, to find meaning and to be shown the good reasons for sticking around can be met by those who’ve already been there.” I agree that others can provide an outlet for someone’s need to talk; however, I am not so sure that the rest of the statement is always the case.

Is it really plausible to assume that just because someone (X) has encountered similar situations, questions, doubts or problems (P) as the suicidal person (Y), that X has the answer to P for Y? After all, one would make a terrible error if he came to me for the answer to a chemistry problem. Simply because I had the same problem back when I had chemistry class does not, by any means, entail that I ever found the solution to the problem. Indeed I might have the answer, and certainly it is worth a try, but an answer cannot be guaranteed or expected.

I’m not so sure that the answer to a chemistry problem is analogous to the answer to the question of the meaning of life and why one ought to stick around living. Just as there are many who have no clue as to the purpose for their existence, there are many who claim to have found such meaning or purpose. In most cases, though, it is their meaning or their purpose. Even within society, opposing groups form to unite people who claim to have similar purposes.

But to the despairing person I assert this: it is not the case that if you reach out, you will always find someone who can instruct you as to the purpose of life. Furthermore, no two lives are the same, so one person’s purpose for living may not suffice for another. I do entertain, however, that if there is a purpose for life, finding this purpose is a search, and others, such as professors, religious deity, children, elders, coaches, roommates or relatives may be able to assist you in your search. If no one’s assistance proves helpful, this does not give valid grounds for ceasing to search.

Recently I encountered a poem called “Theater” by Elsie Bowman Kurz which sums it up:

As we move down the aisle of time

With hesitating pace,

There is no one with lighted torch

To lead us to our place.

No usher comes to show us

The pathway for our feet,

But each must in the darkness find

is own way to his seat.

Christine A. Breier

junior, philosophy and English