Pressing Puzzles

On March 31, 2017; the steaming service known as Netflix released a new mini series called " 13 Reasons Why ". This has quickly become one the most talked about series throughout the world. The story is based on the book by Jay Asher where the character Clay Jensen who had a high school crush on Hannah who ends up committing suicide. Suddenly two weeks after her death Clay receives a mysterious package on his porch which contains several cassette tapes of Hannah's recordings explaining the 13 reasons why she chose to end her life. Within the last few days since the show was released it has created a lot of concern in the mental health, education and youth advocacy groups. Groups have demanded that the books be banned from the school libraries including Colorado, which has had seven teenangers ending their own lives: http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/colorado-school-district-pulls-suicide-book-thirteen-reasons-why-1.3415692 The show claims they had gotten expert...

Throughout many of my postings, I have highlighted news stories about people with autism/Asperger's and the plight they had to inure. This one honestly makes me very angry and sad because the end is one that was truly tragic. The story is that of the late Graham Gentles who had Asperger's Syndrome and he had found himself face to face with a traumatic situation all because of his condition. Below is the story from Yahoo news: Three days after Graham Gentles was fired without warning from the Pasadena Target where he worked last July, the 22-year-old committed suicide. Now his mother, Virginia Gentles, is calling for Target to take responsibility for its role in his death. In the wrongful death lawsuit Virginia filed against Target in L.A. she alleges that the company engaged in intentional infliction of emotional distress on her son, who had Asperger’s syndrome, negligence, and false imprisonment as part of a company practice that subjects employees to a “walk of shame” ...

This by far will be the most difficult entry that I have ever had to ever write. It deals with the one thing that almost every person with Asperger's has to deal with...suicide. {I make this disclaimer: suicide is NEVER the answer to any of your problems!!!} Making that claim and following through are very difficult to manage. I never even like to talk about it because it makes me feel uncomfortable. I've noticed that those kind of thoughts seem to rear their ugly heads when I get under serious distress or panicky. In my mind, it always seems easier to take my life rather than facing the issues that are troubling me. I feel like it's a curse, but I'm never going to let it win and I need to share my thoughts with you about the difficult subject. I see the whole suicide thing like the Hulk or a Mr. Hyde, that persona that wants to come out and do whatever destructive things that I'm not willing to achieve. I believe every person with this problem envisions how th...