Killing one's family and then killing oneself

created by Eos

(idea) by Eos (1.4 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 19:03:09

This used to seem the most pointless and horrible crime to me. I've read about several incidents of it. Some guy goes nuts, shoots his wife, shoots his kids systematically, and then shoots himself. It's the kind of thing you try not to think about because it's so terrifying. Screw Stephen King. Screw Clive Barker. This is scarier by far, because it's actually happening, and it happens with normal every day people. As a result, it's not a subject I've spent a lot of time thinking about. I value my sleep. Jealous rages I understand. But I've never understood what could drive someone to want to kill their kids, of all things. But last night I was lying in bed, dozing off. I got to thinking about my current situation, and had one of my brief suicidal thoughts I get from time to time, force of habit of a horrible adolescence. Of course, I just discard them out of hand now. Last night my thought was "Of course, there's no way I could ever do anything like that, if for no other reason than because I have my love and unborn child to take care of." That was interesting, I followed that train of thought, and realized these people may be doing this because they can't handle living, and can't handle the thought of the pain (emotionally, financially) that their death would bring to their family. So, since they are already unbalanced enough to the point where death seems a better solution than the suffering they go through, and the agonizing they've done over reaching that point... You can see how someone would think they were actually doing their family a favor by killing them before taking themselves out. Saving them from a greater evil later on; the (to them) unbearable pain of life, combined with the suicide of their parent.

In some ways, those cases scare me less now, because I understand the cause a little more. In some ways I'm much more terrified because all of a sudden that's an evil that seems much more common, now that I've found an explanation. Before it almost seemed mystical, a pure act of evil. Now it's pure selfishness. I don't believe in evil.

(idea) by Lactic.Acid (3.9 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Mon Aug 07 2000 at 19:37:19

The problem I have seen with suicidal/disturbed people (I have no experience with people that have gone this far) is that they don't want help. They will not accept help from friends around them. I've talked to too many girls on the verge of ending it. These girls were all from upper-middle class, suburban $200,000 dollar homes, families, and they felt the need to end it. Nothing I said, nothing their therapists said (apparently) helped. It's rediculous and upsetting that beautiful girls could feel so worthless and their families not take notice before hand. I know some may feel different, and I know people that reach the extent to end their family first is extreme, but it's all connected. The common theme of self-loathing, self-despair, etc. The thing I find morbidly humorous is these people feel they must end their lives, but they must kill their family first to "save" them the pain of losing their father/husband. If these people cared so much, they wouldn't do this in the first place, and if there wasn't any causal problems in these people's lives, there would be no problem because the issues could be dealt with beforehand.

printable version
chaos

Don't believe us - we're all cultural prostitutes	Drawing Blood	Poppy Z. Brite	I killed my father, I ate human flesh and I quiver with joy
Hobbit name generator	Christians don't believe that "being good" gets anyone into Heaven	Robert Crumb	Explication
Clive Barker	How to convert a Super Nintendo controller to work on the PC	appropriately named	I don't believe in right and wrong
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San Pablo Avenue	point of view	The Answer	thing
Suicide	Stephen King	Killing fashions	rock climbing

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