Trigger warning. Mention of suicide. Ramblings on why things are the way they are.

[LuckyCharms]

Fame, wealth, incredible good looks, elite social circles, and appearing to have life by the balls...all of these things...are nothing more than briefly passing man-made constructs. Everything we have in this life is relative to something else.

I just read here in DU about the suicide of Cheslie Kryst, a 30 year old former Miss USA. The thought of this make me sad for her, and her suicide causes me to reflect.

I believe that in most cases, suicide is simply an attempt to escape mental or physical pain. It is not a selfish act. It usually happens when the pain being experienced by a suicidal person makes suicide look like a better option. Pain that pushes someone to suicide may be caused by trauma, mental illness, a brain injury or a chronic physical disease. Or maybe, something has happened in that person's life that caused them pain that cannot be understood or labeled by anyone else. Or just maybe, suicide is merely answering the call of the void.

Some people are considered to be exceptionally attractive, exceptionally well-spoken, and may have labels assigned to them, indicating that they are the "best". Perhaps they have been groomed to be "the best". Maybe people in these situations, deep down, don't want to be "the best". Maybe they just want to be good, normal people who make the world a better place. People who are labeled "the best" and who are consistently showered with love and adoration for being "the best", may feel like they are impostors. Maybe they feel guilt for heading down a road that would eventually lead to people awarding them for being "the best". Maybe at some point they realized "Hey, I don't want to be the best, I just want to be me", but they were too far down the road to turn back. And now, much is expected of them. They are forced to live up to the standard's of others, when they just want to be themselves.

On a far different point on this spectrum, people who truly feel they are better than others and deserve more than others can likely be a true danger to people they interact with. I'm referring to damaged people with personality disorders here. If they can't be helped, if they can't be treated, the actual and potential damage they will or might cause needs to be recognized and mitigated.

And then, we have just regular people. Some rich, some poor, some traditionally attractive, some not traditionally attractive, some fat, some thin, some with a perfect BMI, some intelligent, some not so intelligent.

I kind of took the long way around to say this: Beauty pageants, political theater, idol worship, hurting others for the hell of it, being a prick to people just because you can...these are all man made constructs that don't need to exist, because in the end, no matter what we look like, no matter how rich or poor we are, WE ARE ALL THE SAME because when the game is over, we're either going to be in a casket or an urn. Each and every one of us.

Fuck people over as hard as you can because you have money and power? Why?

Place unrealistic expectations on a pretty woman who won a contest that perhaps, she was groomed to win her entire life by others, when perhaps, just perhaps that's not really what she wanted to do? Why?

Fat shame? Why?

Racism? Why?

Classify people by their physical or mental attributes which they may have have no control over? Why?

Why not just *BE*, and be the best you can without putting yourself or others into man-made categories?

Why be *bad* when you can be *good*?

Because for generation upon generation upon generation, people did not grok that we are the same. Different talents, different languages, different cultures, but essentially, the same people who would ALL be *good* people had their own personal history not been fucked up by people in their past or circumstances in their past. None of which would have occurred if it were human nature for people throughout history to just *BE* and to support *ALL* who for one reason or another, were having difficulty just *BEING*. But I guess human nature doesn't work quite like that.

We all get sick. We all die. Rich or poor, it happens to all of us. And in the meantime, some people try to ruin others for their own benefit. That's human nature, and I guess it always will be.