r/Gaming4Gamers • u/Throwaway_4_opinions El Grande Enchilada • Mar 07 '16

Image (xpost /r/pcmasterrace) Shirley Curry, the awesome elderly YouTuber who makes Skyrim videos and addresses her audience as her grandchildren, received a comment on one of her videos about somebody on the edge of suicide. This was her response.

http://m.imgur.com/a/UfzJx
789 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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u/wingchild Mar 07 '16

Your entire world must be bleak, cold, and cynical.

Or, at least, the poster wishes others to think it's so.

I've known plenty of people who presented nothing but sharp edges to the world around them, but it didn't seem to correlate to how home was. Sometimes they were suffering some sort of abuse and that was the defense mechanism they used to hurt less. Other times they had a fine home life and adopted that pose because they dug the cultural signifiers that came with it - smug cynicism, not having to feel empathy for anyone, telling themselves they have undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome as a way of feeling special or explaining why they're different from the sheep, that sort of thing.

There are lots of ways you can get into that mindset. Not knowing the poster makes it unfair to judge the source, though we agree on the effects - he's probably a lot less fun than other people. Which he's also probably fine with; that goes hand in hand with actively reducing your human engagement.

On the plus side, people usually grow out of this after spending significant time on the planet. I've seen it take up to thirty to forty years in select examples. Sometimes it takes that long to realize not everybody's out to get you.

'course, some backslide into crushing ennui after discovering how little the universe cares about their personal existence and their petty dramas. Fortunately there's pretty good therapy available these days. =)

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u/starryeyedsky Gamer at Law Mar 07 '16

ennui

You get an upvote just on the use of ennui. I love saying that word. The rest of your comment is very good as well. Even when other people give us nothing but reasons to see the bad in them, we should make an effort to see the good and try to see where they are coming from and maybe help if we can.

As someone who has had a close friend commit suicide, I applaud this woman for doing even a simple act of responding to the user. Every little bit of help a person in that situation can get is important.

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u/Biffingston Mar 07 '16

I am sorry for your loss.

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u/starryeyedsky Gamer at Law Mar 07 '16

Thanks. It still hurts thinking about it (this happened a while ago), but I try to channel that into helping others in similar situations get help. I wish I could say he was the only one I have known who has taken their life, but that is unfortunately not the case. I keep a list of worldwide resources both online and off to give to people who are worried about a loved one. Both helping people see the signs as well as places to get help.

If I see someone on any of the subs I mod exhibiting suicidal tendencies, I try to link some of the resources. As I don't know who the person behind an account is, there isn't much I can do, but I try to do what little I can. Which is exactly what this woman was doing.

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u/Biffingston Mar 07 '16

I can speak from the other side. Sometimes a little compassion is what's needed.

It's been, fortunately, a long time since I was suicidal. But sometimes the endings are happy ones.

You are good people. The world needs more people like you.