Bourdain, Suicide and Sadness

I was really sad when I heard the news about Anthony Bourdain.  It is the same way I felt when I heard about Robin Williams.  I never heard of Kate Spade before so it didn’t hit me as hard.  Why am I so sad?  Obviously, I am bothered that their recent suicides left young kids without a parent forever.  That being said, I didn’t know these people personally.

Bourdain had the job EVERY guy wanted.  Travel. Eat. Make money. He was also cool even if you didn’t agree with some of the things he said.

My friend said this to me:

“And he was a recovered heroin addict who’d known some dark times, though all that supposedly was behind him. Spade had been dealing with demons for five years, according to her sister and her husband. But Bourdain? Whatever it was, it’ll probably emerge in the next few days or weeks. Seems like no amount of self-awareness is enough to protect some people from making that choice.”

I guess. There’s also the fact that suicide has gone up 30% since 2018 (WSJ article on 6/8/18) and there is a massive epidemic of white, middle aged men offing themselves.

Maybe Kate Spade’s death gave Bourdain social proof to do it (he probably knew her)?

So why am I so bothered by this?  Maybe it’s because I know people in my life who are at risk and I worry about them? Maybe because we always worry about ourselves and our own thoughts.  I really don’t know.

But in the end, I am just sad.