The Lighthouse Keeper
BY DANIEL W. DRAKE PUBLISHER

There is a cloud hanging over this community. It is a cancer. No one knows who will be struck or why. No one knows if there is an underlying root cause or if it is random.

Another of our young people has died, the sixth in three years. Five deaths have been on the island. The sixth was a young man brought up here for much of his short life. For many years, there were no teen suicides recorded on Nantucket. Now the log books are overflowing.

How does one write about this again? How can there be anything else to write?

In the last few months, since the previous incident, the community has tried to mobilize. Experts have been brought in. A response group has been created. It has been reported that some 70 people have been trained in suiciderelated crisis management.

So what? It happened again - last week.

Will there be another? Will the cancer strike again?

The experts will tell you that the odds are pretty good that someone will try. The experts will also tell you that the media, by publicizing these events, plays a negative role in the damage control process. Any publicity at all is bad. If there has to be publicity, it must be carefully worded so as to avoid being inflammatory or providing encouragement for the next person.

If someone makes an unsuccessful attempt at self-destruction, according to the experts, no one should hear what means were employed. The people we are trying to help should not be involved in addressing the problem. Apparently, rumors are less dangerous than knowledge of the facts.

The experts will undoubtedly say, "Give us more time. We haven't yet had the opportunity to show our stuff." Michael Kopko, the chair of the Board of Selectmen, was quoted in the Cape Cod Times as saying, "The schools have instituted a number of programs that will be ready to go on Day One, when school starts." (In counterpoint, one student remarked over the weekend how glad he was that, if the suicide had to happen, it had happened outside the school term so "…we don't have to go through that again.")

Great! This last suicide happened during the first week in August. The young man was out of the embrace of the school system; he had graduated and was headed for college. Whatever safety net may have existed for him previously had probably disappeared.

The response group that has been set up is called the Post Traumatic Stress Management Team. The name says it all. The community involvement is in dealing with any problems ex post facto, not with prevention.

Is there a possibility of prevention? Is the disease treatable? Is there a toxin contaminating the young people in this community that needs to be found and be addressed?

Technically, it may be inappropriate to describe six cases of anything as an epidemic, but in this instance "If it walks like a duck…," to the untrained eye it certainly looks like there is some thread joining these acts together.

What is clear is how devastating these acts are on people. Not only are the "victims" families and friends devastated, but the entire community feels the shock waves.

And beyond those who have succeeded, there are "multiples" - yes, multiples - of the number of dead teenagers who have taken action to harm themselves to one extent or another but, for whatever reason, haven't died. The information is suppressed as much as possible. Remember, those attempts are not to be publicized. We don't want to risk glorifying the dead or the dying. Maybe, if we don't talk about it, it will go away.

One theory is that the emotional/ intellectual bar to Nantucket's teenagers committing suicide has been lowered in the last three years. If that theory is correct, it is a horrendous concept. Then there is truly a toxin in place which has to be identified and eradicated.

Let the experts who are already here do their thing. They have a role, but it is the nature of consultants to want to control things and make themselves indispensable. We have to get beyond that. With six dead and more trying, we have to start thinking outside the box.

Should the range of available role models for young people be expanded, perhaps through some sort of enhanced big brother/big sister type of program?

Is not having enough "things to do" really an issue? (The irony is that most teenagers are so programmed, that they may not know how to deal constructively with the rare moments of free time which should be so special to them.)

Is there a role for more organized peer support? These people are on the cusp of adulthood; some are more ready for it than others. But the dangers of treating them like children are much greater than treating them as young adults.

Do we need to rethink the approach to dealing with drug and alcohol abuse by teenagers?

Has a systemic problem developed in the schools or in the community that subconsciously influences students to be self destructive?

These are just a few of the issues which may be in play. Other people will have better ideas.

As a community, we have choices to make. As much as we might like to think that the situation will play itself out in due course (and, with good luck, it may) inaction isn't really an option. Besides, it has already been tried. Therefore, instead of bringing in people who will tell us what to do, let us act by initiating a process which comes up with a list of things we identify as issues, test them and then move forward to address them.

To return to the medical analogy, a process of triage will prioritize what needs to be addressed. Only then will we know whether this unhappy series of events has just been bad luck or there are serious community problems which need to be addressed.

In the meantime, hug a kid - and a teacher.

The "Lighthouse Keeper" reflects the views of the author and does not necessarily represent the editorial position of The Nantucket Independent. Please send any ideas or comments to drake@nantucketindependent. com. I