*Trigger warning: suicide, depression, anxiety.
Kurt Cobain. Chris Cornell. Chester Bennington. Three iconic rock figures that all have one haunting thing in common: each one took their own life.
With the recent death of Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington, there's been both shock and confusion in the media. Was there a way this could of been prevented? Why did he do this? How long as he been depressed? In the midst of the aftermath, some good has happened, which is now the conversation of depression and suicide. Many suicide prevention organizations and many other mental health organizations have stepped up to offer facts and information about mental illness and suicide prevention.
While we try to make sense of Chester's abrupt end, others have had some strong opinions about the cause of death. I was originally not going to talk about Chester's suicide, as I felt like I would be repeating what's already been said. However, earlier today, I came across an Odyssey article (https://www.theodysseyonline.com/chester-benningto...), criticizing Chester's choice to take his own life, calling him "selfish", and telling everybody "not to feel bad." Are you kidding me? How insensitive can somebody be? A man, a person, a husband, a father, took his life because he was so severely depressed that he thought dying would be the only way out. As somebody who struggles with anxiety and depression that's been so numb in my darkness where I contemplated death, I would love to give this writer the middle finger. It's ignorance like this that only push us further over the edge.
Telling a depressed person that suicide is selfish is like telling a cancer patient that chooses to not go through chemo is selfish for not wanting to live. You don't know what somebody's going through, or how close they are to pulling the trigger, we have no right to judge. Depression is a sickness of the brain, not a choice.
Chester Bennington is a rock star that killed himself, but is not the first, and sadly won't be the last one. Months earlier, Chris Cornell killed himself by hanging, the same method Chester would later copy, on Chris' birthday. Coincidence? No. Chester, a sexual abuse survivor and addict, was already dealing with heavy stuff, and the death of his best friend finally set him off.
In light of these two recent tragedies, another significant suicide of a rock star still has people talking. In 1994, Kurt Cobain killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head. To this day, it's still debated whether the singer killed himself or if he was murdered because loyal fans just don't want to believe their beloved hero killed himself. With a family history of suicide, as well as Kurt struggling with severe depression and abusing harsh drugs, as well as past suicide attempts, it honestly doesn't surprise me he took his own life if you just look at all these contributing factors. In 1994, nobody was talking about mental illness, let alone depression, so this only made Kurt's death more shocking. But more importantly, it got people talking. It got people with depression a reason to get help. It changed the stigma of suicide.
It's now 2017, and suicides, sadly, are happening at an epidemic rate. Anybody can be affected by depression and mental illness, nobody is immune, not even rock stars. We've lost two rock brothers to suicide, but more importantly, we lost two rock stars to depression. We talk about their demises, not because we fans think it's cool or trendy, we talk about it to save lives, try to stop others from doing the same thing. We talk about it to reach out, share our stories, let the world know we're not alone, we can cope, we can live with our depression.
If one life is saved from talking about Chris or Chester's suicide, then it was worth the conversation. Chris and Chester wouldn't want their fans to kill themselves, especially if they're inspired by them. Suicide isn't meant to be a movement of inspiration, but rather a movement to end it all.
Suicide doesn't end the chance of life getting worse, suicide eliminates the possibility of it ever getting better.
National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255.
