Living in a culture of death with all its ugly trappings can tempt us to sink into what John Bunyon, in his allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, called the “slough of despond” or what others describe as the swamp of sadness and despair. Abortion, euthanasia, suicide (including assisted suicide), and all the other depressing moral evils of our day dance around humanity pounding us with the message that life is meaningless and not worth living. It is, of course, a lie, but one that seduces many souls already fighting mental illness, guilt, depression, or hopelessness.
One sad sign of the state of the culture, is the increasing number of suicides, particularly among the young. A leading cause of death in those 15 to 29 is suicide. Young women attempt it more often, but young men more often succeed as did my precious 18-year-old grandson who killed himself on May 2nd.
