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Thursday, December 6, 2018

Nabi Sayeth: Is the Sex Abuse Scandal Impacting the Suicide Crisis?

Nabi Sayeth: A news story involving a very high ranking member of the United States military services caught my attention….

Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet, was found dead Saturday in his residence in Bahrain, U.S. military officials said. Defense Department sources told CBS News the death was "an apparent suicide."

A statement from Admiral John Richardson reads:
"This is devastating news for the Stearney family, for the team at Fifth Fleet, and for the entire Navy. Scott Stearney was a decorated naval warrior. He was a devoted husband and father, and he was a good friend to all of us.”
Nabi ponders: A suicide? A deadly act committed by a highly decorated American military hero? A family man?

While only God knows the details that were lodged deeply in the Admiral’s heart, that he chose to end the gift of life in such a manner is most disturbing. It is also one of many in an increasing trend in our society:
Washington D.C., Dec 1, 2018 / 02:28 am (CNA/EWTN News). - The suicide rate in the United States is at its highest in at least 50 years, and is contributing to a decrease in the nation’s life expectancy, the federal government said Thursday. 
Life expectancy for the U.S. population declined to 78.6 in 2017, down from 78.7 the previous year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a new report. 
“Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the Nation’s overall health and these sobering statistics are a wakeup call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable,” said CDC director Robert Redfield in a Nov. 29 statement. 
The United States saw more than 47,000 suicides in 2017, an increase of more than 2,000 from the previous year.
Nabi Sayeth: To say that something is terribly wrong would be a gross understatement. There is a huge crisis with regard to death by suicide in our society that has an impact on us all.

First, we must ask: Why suicide? How could men, women and children carry out such a grave act that crushes the hearts of all who love them so much?

We must remove from our minds the long held thinking that people who commit suicide are hopeless, helpless, disillusioned people. Actually, the contrary is true. People preparing to commit suicide are self-deceptively in control. In their mind, the act of suicide is for them the ULTIMATE act of control. It’s a fix for what they have deemed unfixable.

I once spoke with a policeman who had been called out to investigate numerous suicides. He shared with me an account of one particular suicide that spoke volumes to me:
“I was called out to investigate the suicide death of a man who was highly respected in the community. Married forty plus years, father of three adult children, Church man, involved in his community and a very successful, long-term over the road salesman. But the technology age was having an impact on his work performance. He no longer was the company’s super salesman as emails, texts and FaceTime meetings began replacing his dearly loved and highly successful routine of personal, one on one contact with his customers. He could see the writing on the wall in terms of his “value” to the company as the use of technology increasingly replaced the need for highly dedicated workers. 
He decided to make his exit while he was still ahead of the game. He went into the bathroom on a Saturday morning while his wife was out shopping, cut out in rug-like fashion a large garbage can liner and taped it down to the floor in front of the toilet. He placed his suicide note in his front shirt pocket, and positioned himself in a manner which would allow his body to fall forward neatly onto the can liner so as not to make too much of a mess and shot himself dead.”
Nabi Sayeth: Most acts of suicide are well thought out, ritualistic and planned. Before they commit the act, eyewitnesses describe them as calm, jovial, even light-hearted.

You see, all of the turmoil, confusion and despair that led up to the act was “resolved” by the person’s choice to control the one thing they irrationally thought they could control....the ending of their own life. Unfortunately, they are so self-consumed that they fail to take into account the chaos that suicide brings to the lives of the very people who love them so much.

My Friends, St. Pope John II said many times during his pontificate, “We live in a culture of death.” The significantly increasing suicide numbers bear witness to this sad truth. I do believe that the clergy sexual abuse scandal and what underscores it is a major contributing factor. How so you may being asking….

In part II I will explain…..For now, I ask you to pray for the families of all who have chosen death by suicide

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