My neighbor killed himself.
 

My neighbor, Mike G. was a postal-service employee, he lived across the alley from me. Nice enough guy, in his early '50s, single. Had a Jack Russel named "Jack."

We used to do the compulsory wave and say "hi" kind of thing. I talked to him about my cars and bikes and stuff, mostly because that's where we used to see each other. He had a nice Dodge Power Wagon in his garage, that he worked on a bit.

I was out of town working last weekend. When I got home on Sunday, I spent a little time out in the alley. Talked to another neighbor for a bit; in passing he mentioned that ALL of Mike's cars were parked out on the street, instead of in the garage. Garage door was cracked open about 3-4 inches on the bottom. That's all that really came of it. Nothing too abnormal.

Turns out that something bad (no one really knows what) happened to Mike on Saturday evening. Other neighbors heard him revving up the Power Wagon for about 10 minutes in the garage, then he pulled it out and parked it on the street. Whatever.

Mike hung himself in the garage on Saturday night. He took his dog with him.

I don't have anyone to tell about it, but I just wanted to remind everyone to be nice to each other, because the tiniest good thing you do might be the thing that saves a friend, or even someone you barely know. I get to wonder forever if I might have said something better to Mike.

That's rough. Kinda going through the same thing. Found out a client I had just seen a few weeks ago got let go. Went home and killed himself. Single guy, 53. Hang in there man.

Sorry for your loss, a nice neighbor isn't always a guarantee. I didn't see mention of any family, did he live alone?


I'm not against suicide. Like abortion, I think it should be a personal choice and not cause the Pearly Gates to ban their admittance. What I am against is when they take their wives, children, and pets with them. They should rot in hell for that.

I'm not sure if this is relevent, but the PO is laying off...

That really sucks.

I lost a good friend from HS, a few years after HS. I think we all think if we could have just talked to them before it happened, we could have seen it and helped. Who knows?

Sorry to hear.

And no, there was nothing that you could have said different in passing that would have changed the outcome.

Thanks.

It's not really "my loss", per se, not my great buddy or anything. Just one of those WTF kind of moments where you wonder if you should have done something more or better.

I've never been able to understand the whole concept of suicide (with the exception of the very end of a terminal medical condition), but then again, I've never had any sort of depression issues whatsoever.

My 22 year old nephew in law hung himself from an Oak tree about 2 years ago. He had some drug issues, but was really a pleasant and respectful young man. I actually enjoyed his company at family events. Wish I could have seen some signals, but no one saw it coming.

You just never know...sometimes it doesn't take much to push someone over the edge. Don't blame yourself...but this is a reminder that we should try to be nicer to people.

Lost a Colonel friend in Iraq this way. What a terrible loss. I could go on for a long time on the conversations in the command. He was a great guy, just fantastic. I don't know what all led up to it but the aftermath was pretty sad. Really miss him.

I think the most awful part of it is the thought of his loneliness just before he died. THAT is what bothers me the most. The losses others have posted just remind me of that. It does make one look at suicide in a much different light. One of sadness and loss. I miss Mike.

Jeremy,
I don't know much. Really, I don't. Every passing day proves that out.

What I think, though, is that you can't beat yourself up about this one.

The senseless waste of a human life is a tragedy and I mourn the loss of Mike with you.

Two weeks ago, a 20 year veteran cop, who I worked a police car with on several occassions and knew for about 15 years, shot himself at work. Married, no kids......You never know. His partner found him.

Jeremy, that sucks,, as you know I"ve had two suicides in my family in the last year.. Nothing you could have said or done, believe me countless hours of pain and disbelief by everyone who touched both of those lives and there are never nor will there ever be any answers..
Suicide is the tragedy that keeps on hurting months and years after..

Agree.

I had a cousin who lived five miles from me in VA. She was the flower girl at my parents' wedding. We weren't close, but we hung out and kept in touch. Turned out she was a raging alcoholic and I had never known, even been to bars with her and had no idea. Her husband had finally had it, moved out and she was expecting to not be able to keep that huge house by herself. She got a DUI one night, got out of jail. Had a DUI accident two nights later, also got out of jail, since the paperwork from her previous one hadn't even gone through yet. She then knew she was gonna lose her security clearance, job, husband, house, etc. I was headed to a Van Halen concert one night, drove past her house and thought to myself, "I need to give her a ring and see how she's doing." Next night she killed herself. My folks called and told me to go over there. I got there in time to try to console my aunt and uncle as the coroner folks were wheeling her body out of the house. You never know.

Is that.... gallows humor?

Seriously, Gogar, a kind word might have made a small difference, but only to you. His problems were far deeper. You were available to talk with. He chose not to talk.

Hope it's not about loosing job again. I agree about being nice to others first. Never what happen tomorrow.

Had an old neighbor a long time ago named Joe. I used to visit with him a lot. He had been an aircraft mechanic in the Pacific during WWII - the kind that skipped around from island to island repairing downed aircraft to get them into flying condition to return to base to be fixed properly. I just loved listening to his stories. My wife & I went away for a weekend, and when we returned the neighbors from across the street told us he had committed suicide in the garage by shooting himself in the head with a .22 rifle. I really missed him, but he was really unhappy about getting old, incontinent, etc. I felt another piece of history had passed.

That may be OK if you have no loved ones.

However, the son of a close friend of my in-laws hung himself. His parents were devastated. 6 months later, his father died instantly of a heart attack. 2 months after that, the mother died about 2 weeks after being told she had cancer. It was her lack of will to live that really did her in. 6 months later, I attended their daughter's wedding. It was heart breaking.

So, you see, suicide is not really a personal choice. It affects others terribly.