For as long as I live, I am never going to understand why people choose suicide or murder/suicide as a way out of their problems.
I didn’t understand it before hearing the tragic news of Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters murdering her 19-year-old daughter, Corrine, on the morning of July 12 before taking her own life.
I don’t understand it now, nor will I bother attempting to. I just don’t want to believe it.
The closest I have come to understanding what might be going through the mind of a suicidal individual was watching director Peter Jackson’s depressing child abduction movie, "The Lovely Bones" (2009), earlier this year.
The film is told from a young dead girl’s perspective as she watches over her grieving family from where I assume is Heaven. The best scenes I found were those imaginative “heavenly” sequences. They were so beautiful that I thought that fantasy world was much better than the one inhabited by the living.
I have to wonder if the kind of Heaven seen in "The Lovely Bones" is the type of world clinically depressed individuals believe they will be going to minutes after they’ve ended their lives here on Earth. If so, I’d venture to say depending on one’s beliefs about God, Heaven, Hell and eternal damnation, that person is in for a rude awakening.
A recent news story revealed that Coppell High School where Corrine graduated from earlier this past spring had no records of her requesting her transcripts be sent to the University of Texas at Austin where friends assumed she would be attending this fall.
Internet readers and radio listeners have voiced their opinions on local talk shows citing possible factors that might have brought Jayne Peters to commit such a heinous, selfish act. Perhaps it was the husband, who passed away in January 2008 from cancer, who failed to make sure his family was financially secure after he died.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some say the Peters tragedy is the latest reason why America SHOULD have government run health care. People will probably argue that it doesn’t take long for families to be put in the poor house when their medical insurance doesn’t cover all the life-threatening treatments a family member suffers from.
There are lessons to be learned from the Peters saga though I am fairly certain they will fall on deaf ears. I believe the only time anyone will truly be sorry asking themselves, “Did I miss something,” is when something like this happens again. In the weeks since such unfortunate incidents have happened from the recent murder-suicide July 27 of a Mesquite couple whose children were not home at the time to the British father who murdered his two daughters and wife and then himself possibly due to financial difficulties.
The lessons to be learned from the Peters tragedy are two-fold. For family, friends and co-workers who might know someone who may be going through a tough time in their life don’t be afraid to ask them, “Hey, how are you doing?” Even if that person is perfectly fine with the world, at least it lets them know you care.
The second is for those contemplating going off the deep end because they have lost all hope in resolving their current situation, know that there are people to turn to. One of the seven deadliest sins is pride. Jayne Peters could have been too proud or too embarrassed given her status as a government official to confide in anyone, perhaps even her own daughter in the two years since her husband passed away to tell others about the financial troubles she was having.
If one is too embarrassed to talk to a family member about their problems, then contact a suicide prevention hotline or a psychologist. If one can’t afford a counselor, go to church and talk to God. You never know. He might just answer.
Likewise, I have a hard time accepting the whole reason Jayne Peters did this was not only because she could no longer maintain the growing mountain of lies and deceit but because she had trouble "keeping up with the Joneses."
May God have mercy on the soul of Jayne Peters and may both she and Corrine rest in peace.
©7/31/10
I didn’t understand it before hearing the tragic news of Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters murdering her 19-year-old daughter, Corrine, on the morning of July 12 before taking her own life.
I don’t understand it now, nor will I bother attempting to. I just don’t want to believe it.
The closest I have come to understanding what might be going through the mind of a suicidal individual was watching director Peter Jackson’s depressing child abduction movie, "The Lovely Bones" (2009), earlier this year.
The film is told from a young dead girl’s perspective as she watches over her grieving family from where I assume is Heaven. The best scenes I found were those imaginative “heavenly” sequences. They were so beautiful that I thought that fantasy world was much better than the one inhabited by the living.
I have to wonder if the kind of Heaven seen in "The Lovely Bones" is the type of world clinically depressed individuals believe they will be going to minutes after they’ve ended their lives here on Earth. If so, I’d venture to say depending on one’s beliefs about God, Heaven, Hell and eternal damnation, that person is in for a rude awakening.
I have gone through bouts of depression and encountered financial difficulties in my life. I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t in these trying economic times. For every moment I have been down in the dumps, however, I have always bounced back. As someone once told me, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” I just don’t see how things could be so bad as to not only want to end their own life but the life or the lives of someone close to them, if not complete strangers.Much has been revealed in the weeks since the tragedy. Peters, who ran unopposed for mayor of Coppell in May 2009, was about to be investigated for personal charges she made on her city issued credit card. The Peters’ home had almost been foreclosed three times over the past year.
A recent news story revealed that Coppell High School where Corrine graduated from earlier this past spring had no records of her requesting her transcripts be sent to the University of Texas at Austin where friends assumed she would be attending this fall.
Internet readers and radio listeners have voiced their opinions on local talk shows citing possible factors that might have brought Jayne Peters to commit such a heinous, selfish act. Perhaps it was the husband, who passed away in January 2008 from cancer, who failed to make sure his family was financially secure after he died.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some say the Peters tragedy is the latest reason why America SHOULD have government run health care. People will probably argue that it doesn’t take long for families to be put in the poor house when their medical insurance doesn’t cover all the life-threatening treatments a family member suffers from.
Some probably blame the high school counselors at Coppell High School who wonder why they failed to ask Corrine, who may have been led to believe her mother had handled all the admissions requirements, had she not requested that her transcripts be sent to any colleges. Would such inquiries have been enough to prevent the unthinkable?Then there are others who have made jackasses of themselves showing their true colors writing disgustingly hateful remarks in the comments sections of various news stories on the web. They were not just about Jayne Peters, but about her daughter as well. I am convinced now, more than ever of the saying, “Opinions are like a--holes. Everyone has one.” I firmly believe the number of a--holes who leave these sickening messages on the Internet far exceeds the number of Facebook users which stands at over 500 million.
There are lessons to be learned from the Peters saga though I am fairly certain they will fall on deaf ears. I believe the only time anyone will truly be sorry asking themselves, “Did I miss something,” is when something like this happens again. In the weeks since such unfortunate incidents have happened from the recent murder-suicide July 27 of a Mesquite couple whose children were not home at the time to the British father who murdered his two daughters and wife and then himself possibly due to financial difficulties.
The lessons to be learned from the Peters tragedy are two-fold. For family, friends and co-workers who might know someone who may be going through a tough time in their life don’t be afraid to ask them, “Hey, how are you doing?” Even if that person is perfectly fine with the world, at least it lets them know you care.
The second is for those contemplating going off the deep end because they have lost all hope in resolving their current situation, know that there are people to turn to. One of the seven deadliest sins is pride. Jayne Peters could have been too proud or too embarrassed given her status as a government official to confide in anyone, perhaps even her own daughter in the two years since her husband passed away to tell others about the financial troubles she was having.
If one is too embarrassed to talk to a family member about their problems, then contact a suicide prevention hotline or a psychologist. If one can’t afford a counselor, go to church and talk to God. You never know. He might just answer.
I am not going to state the obvious citing the person responsible for this tragedy is Jayne Peters regardless of the possible contributing factors. The bottom line is we’ll never know what drove her to do this. The only way one can understand the private Hell she might have been going through behind closed doors is to ask her. The only answer that comes back is silence.Just as I refuse to believe something like this could happen, I would much rather believe that on the morning of July 12, Corrine was finally going to attend that Freshman orientation at the University of Texas at Austin to major in the health profession. I’d much rather believe that of all the things that could end the life of a son or daughter, the person a child should least suspect who could do them in is their own parent. I’d much rather believe Corrine had no idea what lay in store for her that fateful morning after walking back into the house.
Likewise, I have a hard time accepting the whole reason Jayne Peters did this was not only because she could no longer maintain the growing mountain of lies and deceit but because she had trouble "keeping up with the Joneses."
May God have mercy on the soul of Jayne Peters and may both she and Corrine rest in peace.
©7/31/10
