[Alffe]

The French philosopher and novelist Alber Camus wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus: "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether lif is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy."

Survivors not only must try to understand the reason why our loved ones answered no to Camus's fundamental question of philosophy, we must also struggle to accept the fact that their decision to commit suicide will forever transform our lives.

"I believe that total forgiveness is almost impossible to achieve," says Carol, the Minneapolis magazine publisher whose husband drowned himself just weeks before the birth of their daughter. "After four years, I have come to believe that life moves on, no matter what happens or doesn't happen. The biggest step for me was to understand that Josh's suicide was an outgrowth of depression and possible mental illness, it was not a normal way of responding to stress. I have to assume that my husband did not know what he was doing when he decided to walk into the lake and drown himself. It is important for me to believe that people commit suicide to end their pain, not to create pain for others.

From the book...No Time to Say Goodbye Author Carla Fine.