INTP Discussion Forum > Flamethrower > Saw a man die yesterday

Posted by: NGene May 1 2004, 01:58 PM

What a lovely way to end a Friday night. I don't want to copy the story all over again, but you can just see my http://www.livejournal.com/users/ngene/8398.html about it.

Posted by: CosmicDust May 1 2004, 02:40 PM

Creepy experience. I don't know how I'd respond 'cause I've never been through something quite like that. Even 9/11 was all the way in New York City; I'm in Massachusetts. (My response initially was that I thought it was just a movie on someone else's dorm room TV, then when my roommate returned and I found out it was real, my response was basically "We had it coming." After that, I started to look more on the bright side, seeing how it was bringing the community together to think about serious things, and remembering that a "1984" society is probably as impossible as a Utopia.) But I do think about mortality quite a bit myself. It's been something of a hobby since undergrad school, when I hit my "quarterlife crisis" as I was turning 20 (realizing I was going "down the hill").

Posted by: misspadfoot May 1 2004, 05:10 PM

That is freaky as hell. I'm actually quite surprised he didn't reach out for the life buoys. I read that after attempting suicide, people almost invariably have a strong, desperate will to live. But this guy that you saw seemed to commit suicide more cold-bloodedly. Rather than an irrational moment, a peak of negative emotions, he must have consciously thought about it once he was in the river. How can you do that to yourself, I wonder? Can you honestly stay underwater while your lungs are starved for oxygen, thinking to yourself, 'I want to die'? How could he not think about the afterlife? I'm an atheist, but I'm not positively sure there's no God. Was he sure nothing would happen to him? Why didn't his brain remind him of these things? I know I'm probably making it worse for you. But I felt a need to give my thoughts on this...

Posted by: Division56 May 1 2004, 07:15 PM

Studies have shown that men are much more likely to kill themselves in a deliberate manner (i.e., shotgun, bridge, toaster in the bathtub), while women are likely to kill themselves in a slow manner (i.e., slitting wrists, over-dose). Read into it what you will.

Posted by: jayvan001 May 2 2004, 03:04 AM

Very interesting experience. If the water was ice cold like you say then he was probably hypothermic with in a matter of only a few minutes and that is probably why he didn't grab for the buoy. His body was already probably shutting down due to the cold. Not to mention there may have been alcohol or drugs involved, which may have sped up the process. I have had water survival training in the military so I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to hypothermia, and that when you "ditch" in the freezing ocean you only have a few minutes before you freeze to death if you don't have proper survival gear. As for your take on it all, if it was a suicide I think he's kind of an ass for doing it in a public place and ruining everybody's night out, and you should'nt have felt guilty for wanting to enjoy your Chinese food. Who the Hell is this guy anyways? He should have picked a more private way to go, but as Div says the stats say guys choose to make a spectacle of themselves. He could have also been some drunk that just took a spill in the drink. Just as well, you couldn't have helped him anymore than you could have stopped a train wreck from happening. Dwelling on it isn't going to help at all. Everyone deals with death differently. If the fact that it didn't bother you is bothering you because you think it should bother you because you know it would bother somebody else, then I don't think you should let it bother you. Savvy? They way society tells a person to deal with death and how that person actually deals with it is up to him or her. Jay I've enclosed a link on hypothermia if anyone is interested. http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/hypocold.shtml

Posted by: Division56 May 2 2004, 03:18 AM

Actually, that's not what I meant. The stats show that men have a more focused approach to a unreversable suicide, and women often want to be saved. Did you ever think he might have not gone for the bouys because he was determined? If I killed myself, I would want it to be painful, unreversable and unique. Something like injecting expoxy into my veins, or jumping into a large pyre. Now I've freaked you all out....................................

Posted by: jayvan001 May 2 2004, 03:32 AM

Yea, of course he could have been hell bent and determined, but nobody has suggested hypothermia. From her desrciption, it sounded like hypothermia, and I have seen extreme cases of hypothermia. They all match her description. I'm looking at I from a different angel that's all. Jay

Posted by: Division56 May 2 2004, 04:12 AM

I'm afraid if I don't start dieting hypothermia wouldn't be a viable option for me. You're right, it's perfectly possible. He should have weighted himself.