Over the summer break I saw the movie THE WATER DIVINER directed by Russell Crowe. The promotional material talked about an Australian man travelling to Turkey after the battle of Gallipoli to try to locate his three missing sons. What I wasn’t anticipating was the tragic death of his wife. She drowned herself in the dam.
Since Adam’s death I find myself frequently asking the question “Why suicide?” This is a reasonable, unapologetic question. It is not accusatory. It reflects the desire to understand.
Researchers have found that there are many causes for suicide. They are agreed that it is always a combination of factors that drives someone to take their life.The wife in the movie had experienced intense psychological stress. She had lost her three sons and blamed her husband for encouraging them to enlist. She was severely depressed knowing there was nothing she could do to bring them back or to ease the hurt. She was alone, isolated, and a victim of her thoughts. The harsh unforgiving landscape mirrored her mental state. All semblance of hope was gone.
Suicide, I suspect, is very often the outcome of mere mental weariness – not an act of savage energy but the final symptom of complete collapse.
Joseph Conrad
