When people kill themselves, they think they're ending the pain, but all they're doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that suicide may seem like an end to pain for the individual, but it causes suffering for those left behind.
Jeannette Walls highlights the tragic misconception that suicide is a solution to one's pain. It suggests that while individuals may believe they are relieving their own suffering by taking their lives, they are instead transferring that pain to friends and family, leaving them to grapple with the emotional aftermath and loss. This perspective invites a deeper understanding of the far-reaching effects of such choices, encouraging empathy for both those in pain and those they leave behind.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a mental health awareness event to highlight the importance of seeking help.
I was in control of what people thought of me, but I had no control over what they thought of my mother. When I asked my mother, 'How do I tell people about you?' her answer was, 'Tell the truth'. But of course, the truth is never simple.
I hadnβt been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway. It didnβt really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.
In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.
Some people who've read my story think I had a terrible childhood and that I was neglected or even abused, while others feel that my parents, while certainly flawed, also had truly wonderful qualities. And that's the way it should be, because in real life two people can look at the same president and one will see a hero and the other a villain.
You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is "If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim
I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.
I began to see why woman-haters could make such fools of women. Woman-haters were like gods: invulnerable and chock full of power. They descended, and then they disappeared. You could never catch one.
Neither can live while the other survives, and one of us is about to leave for good.
But it will be said that the husband provides for the wife, or in other words, he feeds, clothes and shelters her! I wish I had the power to make every one before me fully realize the degradation contained in that idea.
I don't want to be married to someone who feels inferior to my success or because I make more money than he does.
People are supposed to care. It's good that people mean something to you, that you miss people when they're gone.
Brother, hello and good-bye. Frater, ave atque vale
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.