Monday, March 23, 2009

The Bell Jar... all over again


One of my goals in this reading-and-actually-keeping-track-of-books blog has been to improve my reading 'culture.' By that I mean that I have committed myself to including more 'classics' in my 'repertory', so to speak, and I try to read a classic for every two or three non-classic books. I've also included the 'New Classics' in there, and I actually did participate in the "New Classics Challenge" that took place some months ago. I read the three 'required' books, but not on time, and I didn't blog about all of them. Ooops. I just sorta lost touch.
I am currently reading The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath. She was a talented poet who committed suicide in 1963, after writing a semi-autobiographical book about a
young woman who was also suicidal.
What spurred me to post after all this time, was that I read recently that her 47 year old son, Nicholas, hanged himself on March 16th.
Depression is such a terrible, wasteful illness to go thru, and most of us have had it at some point in our lives. I know people who have probably been depressed their whole lives, but have lived that way so long, that they think it's normal to feel that way. I personally believe it is 'hereditary', possibly due to living in a dysfunctional family situation, that also is quite possibly 'hereditary'. Please, if you're feeling down, low, blue, depressed, or whatever you call it, please get help, whether from a professional, or a friend who may steer you to a professional. And don't forget God! "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. " I Peter 5:7

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