Thursday, April 23, 2009
D.C's ghoulish response to suicides
With all of the cynicism that I heard last night during our reflections, it got me thinking about the struggles of staying in a job that you do not like or find interesting. Then I came across this article about how Freddie Mac's CFO killed himself yesterday because he could not handle the pressure being put on him with the government breathing down his neck to get things back in shape. Having worked as a suicide hotline volunteer in high school, I had to talk people out of their desire to end their life early and help them realize the things that they can look forward to and what they can do to fix some of their problems. What the experience taught me is that you need to treat each moment as a learning experience where growth and opportunity can be gained. If you take only the negativity from situations then you subject yourself to being miserable for too long of a period. Had Kellerman actually evaluated his life and his career he could have found something else to make him feel good about life again. Instead of voicing his displeasure and moving on, he decided to stick it out for all the wrong reasons. I do not know what will happen now to the company since it has been in such disarray since the end of last year, but it goes to show the importance of knowing when to move on and finding enjoyment in other areas of life.
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3 comments:
The story involving Mr. Kellerman and Freddie is a sad one. I feel for his family, but I think that it is inappropriate for you to link some our discussion on cyniscm and our jobs to his story. In fact, I find it insulting. There are no paralles between Mr. Kellerman's suicide and "staying in a job that you do not like or find interesting." I do not think you can evaulate a man's life critique it and decided what he should have done in it. Since you worked for a suicide hotline, you should know that ninety percent of people who kill themselves have depression. Depression is a mental illness that can be fatal. You stated that "Instead of voicing his displeasure and moving on, he decided to stick it out for all the wrong reasons." You are extremely naive to think voicing his displeasure would have cured him of illness and solved all of his problems. I am not even going to address the fact I think you were implying staying in a job you do not like will result in one's suicide. Again, there are no parallel between cynicism and Mr. Kellerman's suicide. There are deeper seeded problems than just displeasure with his job.
I agree with Nehs. None of the cynicism last night had nothing to do with pressure from jobs. I find your post insulting and naive.
The only thing people were cynical about was how Washington actually operates and how some staffers do absolutely nothing in the office.
Take me for example. I love my internship and I will probably move down to DC after graduation. Nonetheless, I am very cynical about politics and being on this program served as a real eye-opener for me.
Your post is naive in that you assume Mr. Kellerman wasn't strong enough to take the pressure of his job. As Nehs says, depression is an illness. You can't talk some one out of an illness.
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