Bourdain, Spade Leave For Parts Unknown

The world of entertainment, fashion and food were rocked this week by the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade.  Both chose to leave this world voluntarily.

Bourdain (1956-2018) was a chef who gained notoriety among foodies with his controversial tell-all book "Kitchen Confidential".  He then moved into TV with "No Reservations" and "The Layover" for Travel Channel, followed by "Parts Unknown" for CNN.  All of those shows found him traveling the world while sampling the local cuisine, uncovering insights as to why people are the way they are.  "Parts Unknown" has been on the air since 2013, and is in its 11th season.  Bourdain was filming an episode in France at the time of his death.

Spade (1962-2018) was a designer who created the line of unique handbags that bore her name, then made millions from it before selling the company.

The Centers for Disease Control tells us the number of suicides in this country are on the rise.  The generally accepted reason is that depression and mental illness is being misdiagnosed.  The real reason this is now getting attention in the media is because some celebrity decided to take his or her own life.

We're not going to speculate on why Bourdain, Spade or anyone else chose to do what they did.  How are we to know?  Should we?  Maybe those who chose suicide either had a very good reason or have had enough of living, and there was nothing we could do to stop them.

Taking your own life is not much different than any other kind of sudden death.  It can also happen among the terminally ill, when all the medications and chemotherapy aren't making your life any better.

This is the point where we're supposed to give you the national suicide hotline number, as well as contact information for mental health services.  Well, you can go look that up yourself.  Why make the lives of people obviously intent on doing away with themselves harder than it already is?  Trying to convince them that life can still be worth living, or to think about the ones they might leave behind might fall on deaf ears.

Just so you know, we don't condone or advocate suicide.  Most of us have come through dark periods without ever considering ending it all, because on the other side the tide turns in their favor.  But what if it doesn't?    Then suicide becomes a very real, if extreme, option.  That was the option Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade and millions of others have chosen.  All we can do is to wonder why.