Come for the waves, stay for...ever!
Hawaii is, without doubt, a must-visit destination for any true surfer. From Kauai to Maui to Oahu’s famed North Shore there is no shortage of amazing waves to discover and aloha spirit to experience. Welcome to Paradise… as the most famous book ever written is partially titled. (buy here!)
Hawaii, though, is also a must-visit destination for any person wanting to end it all under a rainbow. “Suicide tourism” is what it’s called and it is big business on the big island (and all the other islands too). Suicides are the second-leading cause on non-resident death in Hawaii after drowning. Traveling to exotic locales to polish off a life well, or maybe poorly, lived. “I think a lot of people might make decisions based on what they think about a place…” suicide expert Kenneth Tardiff told Honolulu’s CivilBeat.com. “…Hawaii is a really impressive place to think about and so is New York City. Suicide can be a very emotional thing.”
The Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge and Niagara Falls are all leading destinations but so are Waikiki’s many hotel balconies. Those are the most common places for visitors to utilize . Educating hotel staff as to recognizing people who may be suicidal is an important step but the subject, overall, is a difficult one that many don’t want to discuss. Maraya Grambs, though, the executive director of Mental Heath America of Hawaii, though, told CivilBeat.com that public awareness is key to preventing suicides. So there you are. Read more here.
“Suicide can be a very emotional thing.” Do you think so?
A few years back Beck referred to the Japanese girl who jumped into the volcano ‘to get back into the womb of the earth.’ A beautiful line for such a horrendous thing, I thought. Its pretty appalling, but suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for men age 15-34 per the CDC’s 2011 data.