Suicide note
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A suicide note is a message left by someone who later attempts or commits suicide. Approximately one third of those who commit suicide leave notes. Research indicates that suicide notes have a profound effect on the grief of those who read them.
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Usefulness
The most common reasons in favor of writing a suicide note are:
- Easing pain - To make the death easier for those left behind, often by easing guilt.
- Closure - To bring relationships to a close and provide a satisfactory explanation of the reasons for the suicide.
- Autobiography - A summary of one's life or what one likes and dislikes.
- Artistic self-expression - Notes can take the form of a poem or short story.
- Instruction - An explanation of what one wants the readers of the note to do with his or her body, how one wants to be remembered, or things one wants to have happen.
- Revenge - To cause pain or guilt by blaming the suicide on others.
The most common reasons against writing a suicide note are:
- All or nothing - It is impossible to write a note that will eliminate all pain, anger and guilt.
- Consciousness - The person committing suicide will not be around when the note is later read. Also, some believe that one's death may cause the world to cease to exist in reality.
- Physical reminder - The suicide note could serve as a physical reminder of the suicide or could be constantly contemplated by those who read it, increasing their grief.
Famous Suicide Notes
The following people have left famous suicide notes:
- Kurt Cobain - lead singer of the band Nirvana and husband to Courtney Love
- Virginia Woolf - English feminist author and poet
- O.J. Simpson - Former American football player and actor who contemplated suicide after being accused of murdering his ex-wife
- James Forrestal - Former United States Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy
- Roger Angleton - Murderer and brother of famous bookmaker Robert Angleton
- J. Clifford Baxter - Enron Corporation executive
- Phaedra - Character from Greek mythology who fell in love with Hippolytus
- Budd Dwyer - disgraced Pennsylvania politician who, on national television, read his suicide note and then shot himself.
- "Dead" - Lead singer of the black metal group Mayhem, whose suicide note famously read only: "Excuse all the blood."
References in popular culture
In the UK general election, 1983, the Labour Party decided to challenge Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party by adopting an extremely left-wing platform. This came after the party lost several of its senior members to the SDP-Liberal Alliance. Labour Party member Gerald Kaufman called the platform the "longest suicide note in history" and the party subsequently lost a large number of seats.
"Adam's Song" from the Blink-182 album Enema of the State is written as a suicide note.
"Stan", a song by Eminem from The Marshall Mathers LP, is written as a suicide note from a fan.