Seau was selfish

Junior Seau died today and it didn't have to happen. I tweeted this earlier this afternoon after hearing that Seau had apparently taken his own life:

"I'll never understand suicide. It's the most selfish thing you can do and is NEVER the only option. There's ALWAYS another answer out there."

I got a few responses from that. I won't share them here but it was pretty much split right down the middle… I was either exactly right, or a jerk for jumping to such a hasty conclusions without knowing all of the facts about Seau's death.

According to all indications/reports, the fact is this: the guy killed himself. The man decided that there was no other course of action he could take than to shoot himself in the chest and leave behind a family and friends with ZERO answers. His mother was distraught after finding out her son had taken his own life. He has four kids and an ex-wife that will never see nor hear from him again.

He may have felt helpless. He may have thought there was nothing else he could do to avoid his problems. We'll never know.

I know this: it WAS selfish. For whatever reason it happened, it was incredibly selfish. I feel for his poor kids now. No doubt they are devastated by this. I am a dad and I could never imagine putting my family through something so hellish, so heinous, so unnecessary.

I have heard the argument that he did it because he was suffering from injury-related mental issues, like concussions, from his playing days. Is that an excuse? It may have been a variable in the equation, but suicide is not the answer to that problem.