Why Didn’t Jeff Skilling Commit Suicide?

What a nasty question. But the who person asked it has an even nastier answer: maybe he should have.

I wonder if suicide is prevented by a sort of magical thinking which assumes one is special and the worst won’t happen.

I see. So Jeff Skilling, a warm, wonderful human being, should have killed himself but didn’t because he was the victim of magical thinking.

She did offer that a “pragmatic concern” such as not wanting to leave one’s loved ones with the legacy of a suicide is also a concern. But if one has magical thinking, one might also be able to believe the person, so consumed with cold despair, might also allow himself to discount all “pragmatic concerns”.

She then goes on to say:

It’s said that all suicides are homicides, that is, intended to kill the spirits of those left behind. If one isn’t hostile, then suicide is not the ideal exit strategy to legal problems.

No, I suppose that no matter what, suicide isn’t much of a legal strategy. But Skilling had something to prove. He had a sound certainty in his own innocence. Though as the blogger points out, Skilling did indeed ponder suicide for a brief time, he decided against it because he knew that if he committed suicide, he’d never have the glorious moment of walking out of prison a free man – clear of conscience, vindicated.

Those doubters who believe he is guilty, those who have never bothered to understand his business, those never bothered to read trial transcripts, those who still believe mark to market accounting was an illegal accounting trick, those who make their livings from the despair of him and other men, those who scorn his wealth, those with no sympathy for his heartbroken family, those who do not care of his grief, those who can not or will not share in the warmth of his intelligence, those who pick at the minor flaws and fractures of casual statements as if they were lies as bold as anything Madison Avenue could produce, those who speak the name Enron with the hatred reserved for human beings like Stalin and Hitler, those who ache for his demise… they will be silent on the day he walks from prison. Silent with rage, silent with disbelief. And those of us who care not just about Jeff Skilling but also for the very idea and ideal of justice will rejoice with impassioned fevers.

Jeff Skilling is a man who lives life to the fullest. He might have briefly considered suicide but he would not deny himself the pleasure of seeing his name cleared. Those who imply he should just take the easy way out do not know Jeff Skilling. That’s okay. He’s not living for you – and he’s definitely not dying for you.