Please everyone, talk to everyone or at least someone but don't kill yourself.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch
And they were grateful for his patronage, and they thanked him very much
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head"

Love you all

[brewens]

1. Maybe a year ago I got this CD. I had the vinyl back in the day but hadn't heard it for 40 years.

[sl8]

3. I grew up listening to the Simon & Garfunkel version:

Richard Cory

Simon & Garfunkel

2017 Feb 19
Provided to YouTube by Columbia

Richard Cory · Simon & Garfunkel
Sounds Of Silence

[...]

It was several years before I learned that it was a poem by American poet Edward Arlington Robinson.

Article I stumbled on when searching for the song video:
https://poppoetry.substack.com/p/simon-garfunkel-richard-cory

Simon & Garfunkel's "Richard Cory" Misses the Mic Drop

More than just a sung version of the poem, the famous folk duo's song layers on sinister meaning but lacks the power of the original work's silence & finality.

[...]

[Wounded Bear]

7. One of my favorite albums of all time...nt

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

12. This was one of my favorites when I was young.

Right now I like the cover by Disturbed:

[elocs]

13. This is a powerful, powerful cover version of this song by Disturbed along with it's music video.

As a 72 year old Boomer I have actually seen Disturbed when I took my daughter to Mayhem Fest at Tinley Park when she was a teen.

[marybourg]

2. What about my octogenarian friend who is in

constant agony from almost weekly skin cancer removals and multiple neurological and spine conditions? How do I handle that?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. I'm sorry for your friend.

I would never presume to live anyone else's life nor would I expect my wishes to dominate anyone's free will.
I would just hope that everyone would know that they have people who love them.

My MIL had surgery a few weeks ago due to her hip being broken in 2 places. She also has various spinal problems. She was walking, shopping, driving and cooking on a broken hip. The answer here for that kind of pain was ibuprofen and Tylenol3. But this state can be happy that it's doing its part for the opiate crisis.

[marybourg]

5. Even epidurals don't help my friend any more.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. I'm sorry to hear that but it is good to have a friend. You sound like a caring friend.

[Nanuke]

6. My older brothers played this when I was 6 or 7...

When I asked why he killed himself with a bullet through his head my parents no longer allowed the song to be played in our home. Same thing happened a few years later with Country Joe and the Fish on my brothers’ Woodstock album. They discouraged Bob Dylan also…but not for the lyrics but the quality of the vocals.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

9. IMO, it's a strange thing to want to die...

...and as much as I'd like to understand, I hope I never do.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

[The Wandering Harper]

14. I was in 6th grade the first time I felt that way

1985,
(I feel like a certain president at the time ruined my life.)
One of the less fucked up things that happened that year was my school giving me an "award" -
almost like a medal but it was made of wood
- for the worst attendance.
The most fucked up thing, I won't tell more than it involved a very drunk father.
My goodness what a horrid year that was.
Spending your childhood years helplessly spiraling deeper into poverty
can do a number on your brain.
Spent the rest of my life trying to recover,
at least I don't often want to die anymore

[Hekate]

16. Live long enough, see enough elders in agony or just profoundly diminished by age, & you'll get it

My mom raised me with the mantra that suicide is the coward’s way out. Long before she herself aged into chronic searing pain I had figured out the flaws in that one-size-fits-all statement.

No, she didn’t kill herself. But in her last illness I think the Dark Angel came near and she leapt into his arms.

I admired Dylan Thomas’ poetry from a young age, can still recite some by heart. But I came to realize that “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night” was written by a very young man, one who never grew old enough to understand in his own flesh that “rage, rage, against the dying of the light” was not necessarily a one-size-fits-all prescription.

[Oneironaut]

10. I tried suicide in 2021.

I thought I couldn’t do anything right, and, I was correct!

Sorry for the dark humor. I’m happy 99% of the time now that I survived.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

11. I've heard it said that we all profit from death.

That's not my experience. I'm glad we still have you.

[Oneironaut]

15. Thank you!