Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

Blog site to accompany KUAR Public Radio program, the only program on radio today where the generations get together the first and third Tuesdays each month to compare and contrast their perspectives on a wide variety of topics.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

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Our topic on the program we aired Tues. Dec. 7th, 2004 was Suicide. My guests were- from the older generation, Dr. David A. Liptschitz; from the middle generation, Dr. Terry Richard and from the younger generation was Dr. Lanny Berman. All three are very respected individual experts in the field of suicide. We focused on the reality that suicide is a consistent part of every generation's experience and that for the most part it has been a group predominantly populated by white males over 40. Dr. Berman pointed out, however that as time is marching on, the younger generation is beginning to increase its numbers in suicides each year. Dr. Richard explained that the middle generation has suicide victims who have not dealt well with the depressions caused by loss of relationships, jobs, financial security and other social disasters that befall us in those middle years. Dr. Lipschitz then brought home the idea that as older generation members reach other health and social family issues, this is often the final straw and the older generation then acts our a Pathology that, as he says, has been brewing for a lifetime.

Personally, as I prepared the program, I remembered as a 10 year old boy hearing that George Reeves had committed suicide. For those of you my age, he was 'Superman'. In a couple of more years I remember sitting by the radio one Saturday morning in 1962 as the news was broadcast that Marilyn Monroe had committed suicide. As a 12 year old boy, and with here pictures in LIFE and LOOK magazine, it was hard to believe that such a young and beautiful woman could possibly commit suicide. Anyway, those two early suicides seem to mark a growing up period in my life as I tried to understand this part of death. It was one thing to see my older grandparents die, but to see Superman and a very beautiful woman die because of their own acts...it was just hard to believe.

I am sure that everyone has a similar struggle with suicide victims they know. It was a topic that I think is important NOT to overlook for this program.