37th Annual National Suicide Prevention Week
Changing the Legacy of Suicide
September 4th - 10th, 2011
Years ago in college English I read this poem and we talked about it in class. The final was to write about something we had read during the semester. As I re-read works I read this and realized something that we had not talked about in class. This poem is talking about someone who committed suicide. So my final was on that topic. While in High School I worked with someone who committed suicide and the lingering questions always seemed to be why? Everything seemed to be going right for this person, why? It was a common thread I noticed when people generally talked about the subject in terms of the person who had committed suicide, why when things did not seem so bad did this person do this. Sometimes it is an accumulation of little things that we miss. So read this poem and think about someone you know you can reach out to and be a friend!
The Unknown Citizen
by W. H. Auden
(To JS/07 M 378
This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
The last two lines have been etched in my mind since I put this topic to this poem.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong we should certainly have heard.
My response has become Really! Would have our Should you have?
Open your eyes and be a friend to those around you!