DEAR EDITOR: Regarding the article on the increasing rate of suicide in Colorado, I would like to provide an antediluvian suggestion as to why this might be happening.
When I was in high school 50 years ago, suicide was almost unheard of, either among the old or the young.
Nearly all of us kids attended some kind of house of worship. Most of us were Christians, with a few Jews and Muslims. We were taught at at our places of worship that it is wrong to take a human life, your own or someone else’s. I understand that few people are raised with such formal religion any more. This may account for why more people find suicide acceptable—they have not been told that it is wrong.
We were further taught to love our neighbor as ourselves. There has always been bullying, but I can’t help but come to the conclusion that bullying might be on the rise these days because kids are no longer being taught to love their neighbor as themselves.
— Bev Findlay, via letters@SentinelColorado.com