Unless you have gone through the pain of a loved one committing suicide you may not realize the pain that the column “Suicide attempts should not be against the law” [Feb. 21] is capable of inflicting on a still grieving person. It was one year and four months ago that my mother called me, on the day after my birthday, to tell me that my cousin Jason had committed suicide. There are still times that I can’t believe he is gone, and I can’t imagine what his immediate family is still going through on a daily basis.

Mr. Woock stated, “If they [your friends and family] really did love you, they’d stop making such selfish demands and let you do whatever it took to escape the living hell that your life has become.” If selfishness is wanting the best for someone else, wanting them to succeed in life, to make something of themselves, then count me as selfish. Jason left his grandfathers home to meet his mother, only to have her find what was left of him in the living room with most of his head on the wall. Now I ask you who was selfish?

I have never been so upset and outraged by anything I have seen in print in the Iowa Sate Daily. I can’t believe that a publication that would fire editors over appearing in Toons would then turn around and print something that may push someone over the edge.

Ruth Paulson

Junior

Food science