It's a Wonderful Life

Back in the day, I worked at a nursing home to put myself through college.  When I first started working there, the "lifers" warned me about holidays.  They said the changes in seasons and holidays always mean an increase in the number of deaths at the home.  At first, I didn't believe them, but as the holidays would tick by, I noticed that they were right (They also told me that they can tell when it's a full moon just by how crazy the residents act at night; they were right about that too, but that's another story).

I've never forgotten that theory or the accompanying experiences, and I catch myself these days watching the obits around the holidays.  Without exception, the number in the paper are exponentially higher.  Now, I'm not exeptionally morbid or anything, but I do enjoy reading the obits.  I typically scan the name, age, and death info in the first paragraph, and then, I read the life story.  Since it's the last time the person's name will be in print, I figure I owe it to him to at least read the biography.

A friend of mine, whose husband is a mortician (from whom I have gleaned some very interesting details about the process of death), informed me that when an obit says the person died at home, most of the time that means the person's death was a suicide.

As I was reading a 35-year-old's obit today, I saw those dreaded words.  And as usual, it depressed me.

A death from cancer is sad. A heart attack is sobering.  A car accident is stupefying, and a toddler's or baby's death is unfair. But a suicide?  I can't think of anything more tragic than that.  With suicide, a person has decided that his or her life is worthless, purposeless, and unnecessary. 

I Corinthians 12:12 says, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body." Every. . .body serves a purpose.  Every. . .body has been perfectly created and aligned to God's purpose and timeline.  There is nothing random about one's existence. 

I Corinthians 12: 18, continues:  "In fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be."You are there because God wants you to be there. .at that time. . .for a specific purpose that only you can fulfill.  No one else can do it.  You have just the exact DNA, talents, and personality to do the job.  If you don't do it, if you don't live it, it won't happen.  It's like George Bailey's experience in It's A Wonderful Life.

So when the ultimate tragedy occurs, someone gives up and takes himself out of the game plan, how is history altered?  What doesn't happen that was supposed to happen? What opportunity slips by because the person is no longer there to take it?

The irony here is that even though the person feels as though his or her life is worthless or purposeless, and he or she won't be missed,  the fact that she or he is gone alters history.  Who knows?  She could have mentored the girl who would one day discover the cure for cancer?  He could have been there at just the right time to snatch the little boy who develops a new, sustainable energy source from contact with an oncoming car?  More importantly, she could have been there at just the right time when an athiest started asking questions about God? 

In addition to the tragedy of loss in a suicide, culpability is also a by-product.  When a suicide occurs, I can't help but think we all share in the blame somehow.  When a body part dies, it can poison and destroy the rest of the body. Is the same true with regard to the body of humankind?  Why and how did a person get to the point of desperation without anyone there to know?  To stop it from happening?  Where and how did we all miss it?

The fact of the matter is that we all serve a purpose and contribute to the whole.  We are here, right now, at this time and place, because we need to be here.  Perhaps, it might be just to pick up the phone and call someone when the thought passes through our heads?  That thought is not random, and it just might help to save a life.