Many moons ago in Mr.Walsh’s latin class ” Settle down now, settle down, no horseplay, no tomfoolery, today in the pluperfect tense we shall be discussing the tragic story of Pyramus and Thisbe” said Mr Walsh. ” Pyramus and Thisbe communicated via a crack in the wall of their adjoining houses, their parents forbade a relationship and it ended in suicide”. The word suicide caught my ear. Even then I could not shake suicidal thoughts.
Some years later I heard of a suicide pact. A guy and girl, both equally isolated, struggling, the usual circumstances that lead to a tragic conclusion. The girl had procured some substance that would do the trick. She sought and obtained a partner to catch the bus with. Neighbours either at the inquest or to media in an almost spiteful way remarked ” she’s not working, never goes out, never had a boyfriend”, the guy got the same treatment ” he’s no friends, never had a girlfriend”. A night watchman, clocking off for the night saw the two in a car. He thought they looked peaceful. The next day both bodies found deceased in the car. To die by suicide is obviously tragic, you die alone, to die with someone else, less so. The neighbours started again ” Them two that died in a suicide pact could have had a relationship together, it may or may not have worked but they were suited”. That last observation from the neighbours I would agree with.