Last night I read an article in the New York Times about the high rate of physician suicide. It made me incredibly sad, and I couldn’t quite shake it. I certainly didn’t want that to be my last image before sleep. So I switched to Facebook and found the video of two deer who stopped Golden Gate Bridge traffic running from San Francisco to the Marin Headlands. Deer running are always a joy to watch—the way they leap and spring forward—they almost force giggles out of me. I realized that I needed that release, that sense of joy, and the pleasure of watching nature and one of the most wondrous human-made structures—that is itself a suicide magnet (although soon we will finally have suicide prevention nets)—interact. As I prepare for the High Holy Days, it led me to reflect on how we—I, for sure—need to remember to balance pain and joy, not to avoid difficult subjects, feelings or situations, but to have a way out and through them, not to get stuck in the place of pain.
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