Oregon Senator (Smith) Grieves Over Son's Suicide

guardian.co.uk ^ | 03/02/04 | AP

[KQQL]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith's 21-year-old son, Garrett, killed himself last fall at his college apartment. ``For me time stopped,'' Smith said. ``My public career seemed vain, my hopes and dreams in ashes. I felt I had failed at my most important duty, as a father.''

Despite their pain, Smith and his wife, Sharon, spoke out Tuesday about their son's life and death, saying it was important to raise awareness of youth suicide and mental illness.

``It's been six months, and it's time to find more meaning and help others who suffered like he did,'' Gordon Smith said after speaking in favor of a bill on suicide prevention.

[ValerieUSA]

As someone who lost her husband 6 years ago when he was 42, and the mother of 4 children who lost their father, I disagree with your contention that public "memorializing" is an irresistable impulse following the death of a loved one.

[ValerieUSA]

I find your comments to be ignorant and arrogant.
Apparently you have to prove how deeply you understand something that others less wise just cannot grasp. You're not fooling everyone.

[reg45]

Some states have laws making suicide a capital (death penalty) offense. That seems redundant!

[Wolfstar]

Compassion is a piss poor reason to legislate.

Oh, really. The Ten Commandments are God's legislation, and they are among the most compassionate laws ever written. The Bill of Rights in the United States Consititution are also among the most compassionate laws ever written. I could give you many more examples, but I assume you are capable of getting the point.

[leadpenny]

I'd wager that Brit Hume and his wife would pity you and edwords. You should consider changing your screen name.

[Wolfstar]

Re your 35, 41 and 42, you like to atttack others as being "superior," "ignorant," "arrogant," etc. Yet you apparently are incapable of getting the difference between a plea for understanding of a common grief response and agreement or disagreement with a particular manifestation of that response. As a consequence, your personalize attacks are meaningless.

[BoozeHag]

I've heard it said, "You're only as happy as your saddest child."

[Eva]

When we closed the mental hospitals.

[tcuoohjohn]

Many bills are not funding bills but bills that establish focus and intent. Any legislation of any type that lacks compassion is legislation that is doomed. Either you have some very odd notions of what the word compassion means or there are some fundamental algorithyms missing in your personal OS.

[Wolfstar]

I disagree with your contention that public "memorializing" is an irresistable impulse following the death of a loved one.

Take another look at what I wrote. Nowhere did I "contend" that PUBLIC memorializing is an irresistable impulse. However, the very human grief response of memorializing the dead in some way is several tens of thousands of years old. It takes many, many forms and is most often very private. However, legislation as one form of such memorializing is not uncommon.

If you're going to personally attack someone, at least do so on the basis of accuracy.

[mountaineer]

You have absolutely no way of knowing what Mr. Hume did to memorialize his son, but I guarantee you he did do something

Whatever Brit may have done in his grief, it wasn't accomplished with taxpayers' dollars. That's the difference.

[Hildy]

Here's the type of statistic that drives me batty..

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3,000 people between the ages of 10 and 24 take their lives each year, the third-leading cause of death in that age group.

Third leading cause of death. Ok, let's list all causes of death.
1)ILLNESS
2)ACCIDENT
3)SUICIDE
4) FOUL PLAY.

So, in other words, suicide is at the bottom of the list of causes of death in that age group.

[CathyRyan]

I know this is a really stupid idea but why don't we wait and see what is in the bill before we start throwing stones. The man might have a good idea, then again he might not have a good idea but why not just wait and see.

[daybreakcoming]

Can't believe I am "listening" to an argument about compassion.....who has too much, who has too little.

From experience I can tell you that no grief in your life goes deeper than losing a child and it never goes away. Second, thanks to politicians, some can't help but think an act like this is suspect. This particular father seems to be holding himself accountable for his lack of "fatherhood"....give him that. That said, does seem like a more meaningful way could have been found to help other potential victims....like a hands on, a one-on-one, rather than expect the government to throw money at a memorial.

[connectthedots]

I find it a bit interesting that there is no mentions of Smith's religion and the significantly higher suicide ratres of young men of that faith.

[mlmr]

The Smiths are not using their son's death, they are memorializing him through a piece of legislation they believe may prevent other young people from going down the same dark road. It's their way of both giving his life meaning and giving their son a legacy.

If they want to memorialize their son, collect donations and build him a monument. DO not use our tax dollars to fund another boondoggle.

[mlmr]

We have no ability to help our own mentally ill friends and relatives because mental health care is a licensed industry and the lawyers have made sure that it is not in the hands of those who love the patient, but instead in the industry hands.

[George W. Bush]

Wolfstar: ...(liberal PC blather)...

You're way too much in touch with your feelings and inner chid.

You fail to grasp that the rest of us don't want to go through life that way.

I would have less objection if Gordon didn't personalize this legislation by using liberal soccer-mom feel-good/feel-sad rhetoric. I would oppose the legislation in any event.

[FBD]

"Oregon Senator Grieves Over Son's Suicide"

This event is six months old, and this article title wouls seem to indicate otherwise.

"It's been six months, and it's time to find more meaning and help others who suffered like he did,"' Gordon Smith said after speaking in favor of a bill on suicide prevention.

-The HHS already sucks up 40 percent of the 2.7 trillion dollar federal budget, and now some law makers want to add some more to it. The title of the article tells me that they are USING Senator Smiths tragic loss, to enlarge the HHS even more. I'm sorry for the Senaors loss, but we don't need more federal largess.

"The State...stands between me and my body, and tells me what kind of doctor I must employ. When my soul is sick, unlimited spiritual liberty is given me by the State.

~ "Now then, it doesn't seem logical that the State shall depart from this great policy...and take the other position in the matter of smaller consequences -- the health of the body....Whose property is my body? Probably mine....If I experiment with it, who must be answerable? I, not the State. If I choose injudiciously, does the State die? Oh, no.~
Mark Twain, in "Osteopathy," 1901

[Salvation]

Well said, there, sir.