Two reports came in on the weekend. One report had the wife stabbing the husband to death before taking the two children away to die together of carbon monoxide poisoning. Apparently there were problems with the marriage. No shit. I wonder how they could tell.

The second had a couple off their own children before deciding they could not off themselves. Guess they did not think too carefully about how serious they were until after the kids were dead – tragedy. These cases differ from your average group suicide where (in principal) all members in the group are happy to off themselves together – apparently there is greater appeal in doing it together. Still, since I am following the macabre again, I thought I better mention this.

Another thing to consider is that while group suicides make great news they do not really represent the vast majority of the problem which puts Japan at the top in the industrial world for people offing themselves.

Another issue often missed by the media is the impact on the living who have to live with the gut-wrenching horror of losing someone they love.

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