There was a man. He came from humble beginnings, but achieved fame, success and happiness, living the dream of millions of children all across the United States by playing in the NFL. But he didn't just play football for a couple of seasons. He spent 12 long years in the NFL before retiring to coach four college football teams. His name was Andre Waters. On Nov. 20, 2006, Mr. Waters committed suicide.
How could someone so accomplished feel as though death was the only way out?
Just a few weeks ago, a UW-Madison student took his own life, and the campus is still feeling the aftershock. Even though these two incidents took place thousands of miles apart and represented two completely different situations, their deaths reveal how their individual suicides at a very private level are a microcosm of our society as a whole.
It's time to recognize that this tragedy was not an isolated incident. The second leading cause of death in Wisconsin for 15-34 year olds is suicide. It is third nationally. Too many of our friends and neighbors feel as though life is the tragedy, and death the savior.
Unfortunately, although the university has resources and programs to prevent student suicides, all of these programs are optional. A student contemplating suicide has to take the initiative to get help.
The suicide prevention program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign takes a different approach: It makes counseling assessment sessions mandatory following a suicide threat or attempt.
As a result, the suicide rate has been cut by more than half at Illinois while the national average has remained roughly the same. Without these mandatory sessions, only 5 percent of students contemplating suicide would complete the Illinois program. Having suicide prevention programs here at UW-Madison but not making high-risk students get mandatory help is like witnessing a forest fire break out, and then maybe calling the fire department.
Also, during the programs 19 years, none of the 1,670 reported suicide threats or attempts has later committed suicide while still attending school. UW-Madison has a tremendous opportunity not only to give students an education, but also to save lives and, for some reason, it has not taken it.
But we also need to seek out the underlying cause of many of these problems: Our generation's obsession for perfection.
Who wouldn't feel depressed in this modern-day climate? By just watching television, Americans are constantly bombarded with images of supermodels and luxury cars. To be perfect, you must have that car or you must look that good.
As a society, we have misconstrued the meaning of perfection to a point where we have turned our lives into an ultra-competitive game.
Students here at UW-Madison are all at risk of taking their own lives. They are forced to juggle school, work, friendships and the future, but often forget that being stable and happy human beings is more important than a grade on a test, no matter how high the stakes are.
Consider what John Lennon once said: ""Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."" Hey, maybe he was right.
