Anthony Bourdain Part 3

Man is irrational and has need structures. He has a need for abasement and exhibits masochistic behaviors. Additionally, pugnacity, repulsion, fear, disgust, anger, and negative self-feelings accompany behavior. We have wars, and we have men sending off mother’s sons to injury or death. The military is advertised as seeing the world; adventure; having teamwork; and being all that you can be. However, the injury and suicide rate of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are significant. Yes, the environment and living conditions play a major role with one’s emotional state of being. We cannot discount the effects of the battle conditions and its effect on the emotional toll on these men. They experience closeness and bond with each other, and then find bits and pieces of their brothers bodies scattered. It’s no wonder that PTSD is a common diagnosis for returning vets. Let’s take someone who prefers suicide or assisted suicide. This person wants to end his life for any number of reasons. Emotionally, the ending of life is consonant with suicide. Once that decision is made, the person is unlikely to be open to revoking that position. No amount of persuasion or logic will make a change. When the person wants to die, the present becomes less pleasurable; his future looks bleak; and he is unable to contemplate growth, optimism and change. Anthony Bourdain was not afraid to die. He achieved fame through his cooking, was a famous TV personality, had a popular TV show and was well rewarded economically. Likely, he had a support system and resources to receive help. Although Bourdain had many ways to end his life, he chose a painful death. His emotional misery from depression was so pronounced that he was unable to think clearly and figure out a more satisfactory solution. He believed that he was banging his head against an unsurmountable barrier that he was unable to cross or penetrate. His belief in the future was void of significant or meaningful goals. His awards and attainments were simply symbolic realizations at best. These achievements did not adequately substitute or protect Boudain from depression. Instead, in his depression, he exhibited angry and aggressive impulses inward against self. He contemplated and fantasized about suicide, developed a plan and carried it through. Was it a rational, heroic, intelligent or a destructive act for him? One would have to be in Anthony’s shoes to perhaps more fully understand his thinking and all the elements or components within his life space at that particular moment of time .One could agree or disagree about his act being logical, sensible or violent. However, remember, a suicide gesture and behavior is always based on the perception of the beholder and is within man’s fragile will. PS Per the June 25, 2018 edition of Time, a quote by Graham Greene in his autobiography, Ways of Escape,” sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent to the human condition” had special meaning for Anthony Bourdain as he had a copy of this book on his nightstand. I’ll wager that by reading Greene’s autobiography additional clues will surface as Bourdain likely identified with this brilliant writer. According to Wikipedia, Greene’s book describes “his struggle to stave off terminal boredom rather than merely have a good time. Sometimes mildly heroic, often seedy with those stories of his life, he described his lifelong ennui, his frequent bouts of depression and his endless search for meaning in life he often appears to view as meaningless….. Impression that the author lived a very interesting and varied life, but not a happy one.”