The etymology of euthanasia, when translated from Greek, means “good death (1).” In our present debate on euthanasia in the United States, the public policy arena is currently predominated by assisted suicide, a form of euthanasia distinguished only by the fact that the person committing the ultimate act of killing is the victim (2). In spite of the presence of suicide prevention programs to talk the depressed out of harming themselves — and even involuntary commitment and su

One of the most timeless Christmas stories of the past century is Frank Capra’s classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. Initially a box office disappointment in December 1946, it has become nearly as universally associated with the Christmas season as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and is watched by millions of people every December. The story centers around George Bailey, an everyman living in the small town of Bedford Falls, whose father owns the local Bailey Building and

There has been an increase in suicides of military personnel in recent years. It has become quite a major issue. In fact, more veterans die from suicide than combat. Some statistics say that it is at least 22 per day who have taken their own lives and the number could in fact be even higher than that. [1]The big question is, why is this happening? The most frequently attributed explanation to the problem is posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short.[2] [3] The conditio

BY AIMEE MURPHY If you're anything like me, you're an audiophile and you listen to music on a pretty constant basis. Right now my song is "Summertime Sadness" by Lana Del Rey. I've been listening to it nonstop -- and in trying to make out the meaning of the lyrics, I found a few theories that it was about Lana's friend who committed suicide. Considering the content of the music video, I wouldn't at all be surprised if that was the case. It made me wonder how many songs ar

BY NICKI JURINA This post is the first in a series on suicide and abuse prevention by Nicki Jurina, one of our newest social media interns. There exist many childhood "sayings," and one of the most commonly known is "sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you." Many parents say this, not aware of the extreme impact that bullying, whether physical or psychological and emotional, has on an individual. Adults will often encourage children to stand up

BY ELIZABETH THOMSON Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a 1990s coming-of-age novel that covers every aspect of human life and worth. The main character, Charlie, is a "wallflower" who is writing letters to someone he does not know. During the novel he is learning to "participate" in life rather than remaining a wallflower, and through letters chronicles his high school freshman year experience. Chbosky is unafraid to confront topics such as suicide, rape

BY ANONYMOUS In the United States, one in four adults will suffer from a mental health disorder in any given year. [1] With suicide as one of the leading causes of death in this country, you would think that our culture would pay attention to the fact that over 90 percent of all those individuals who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental health disorder. [2] But our society muffles the cries for help under masks of success and feigned smiles and by brushing off depressio

BY KEITH MICHAEL ESTRADA What does it mean to be "pro-life"? This is a question I asked myself when I first dived into the student culture at Franciscan University of Steubenville. The campus has a very positive reputation for protecting the lives of the pre-born and those near death; people here call themselves "pro-life." However, I was forced to ask myself: is that all being "pro-life" means? The answer I found was surprisingly controversial. I thought to myself, "I

BY CATHERINE O'MARA Photo by Elvert Barnes; some rights reserved. A frigid rain falls over Washington, D.C. and drenches a young teenager clenching a sign in their trembling hands that reads, "I am the pro-life generation." This is the image of a typical member of Teens for Life, a pro-life group at Lutheran High School of St. Charles County. Students in Teens for Life are used to putting themselves in uncomfortable situations in order to support the cause they all fight fo

BY ANTHONY BEDOY Rarely do I come across a band that shocks me with their ability to stand out. Many artists strive for that recognizable voice or style that will carry them down in stardom. While Fun hasn't created its name in stardom just yet, this New York-based alternative rock band has definitely set its sights on an even greater goal than just popularity: that goal is to send a message. The most recent single to rock the radios and YouTube pages lately has been "Som

BY ANTHONY BEDOY Angels and Airwaves is a band not largely appreciated by the general public, mostly due to the whiny voice and poppy feeling to their music. Whatever one feels regarding such types of music is largely irrelevant to the powerful message conveyed in their first full-length film, Love. This independent film, released in 2011, won awards at countless film festivals and shocked and awed viewers with scenes of colors, lights, and sounds unlike any other. As an i

BY NATHAN WILL SHEETS Photo by Ben Husmann; some rights reserved. The noise is what I remember the most. The noise itself was not deafening in a literal sense; however, my mind remembers it as such. When I have flashbacks, it is the thought of the noise that triggers me first, putting me into a state of anxiety or apprehension. Music is constantly flooding my mind: a song from this musical, or a classical piece by that person or even something that I have made up; I typi

BY JULIA SMUCKER Life issues, in any form, have typically proven divisively controversial in general public discourse, and they have been no less so among Catholics, in particular. A more all-encompassing respect for life, which has been articulated in recent decades as a "consistent life ethic," is therefore both a telling indicator of intra-church polemics (particularly in terms of its reception) and a much-needed third way between them. While advocacy of the consistent e