Spears: Addressing the big D's in life

With the news of the suicide by firearm of country music legend Naomi Judd recently, I have been thinking a lot about the two big D's in life — depression and death.

Depression is still treated with such a stigma. Recently I had "Golden Voice" Ted Williams on my show and he spoke of times that he has recently been emotionally down in life and contemplated suicide. I think it's very brave of him to speak of this in public

I did an interview with someone who has first-hand knowledge of the cause of death of people in Marion, and this person told me that the numbers of suicides are far greater than the normal person would think.

Depression and suicide have such a stigma that they are rarely reported in an obituary. People will talk about heart problems, cancer, diabetes, but never depression or suicide.

Depression is a real disease that can lead to death just like all of the other diseases is this country. The sooner we recognize that and understand that suicide and depression are not a disgrace but a disease I believe the less cases of suicide we will have.

The other D is death. We hate death in this country. We come up with all kinds of ways to say it without saying it. Passed away, went to a better place, is no longer with us … anything we can do to avoid saying the person died.

Recently I have had to be treated for an illness that has taken me away from the public for months.

One of the biggest problems with this has been that when people find out that you have something, they think you are dying.

I told this to a doctor, and he told me to stop telling people what was happening because the response was so bleak from people I was telling.

I just want to say that I feel fine. I am not going anywhere. I still have a lot of people to annoy before I sign off for the last time.

I have been overwhelmed by the cards and letters, messages and phone calls. That was something i would have never expected. I am very lucky.

But here is the real deal on death. Since I have been dealing with my treatments, a young girl in Marion was killed in her front yard, a former Ohio State football star in his 20s was hit by an automobile and killed, Naomi Judd committed suicide, and someone reading this right now will die of a stroke, heart attack or accident tonight.

The one thing all these people have in common is they do not or did not know it's coming and didn't spend time worrying about it.

Does someone in their 90s worry everyday that this could be their last? I hope not. Why should anyone with an illness? I personally am not going anywhere for a long, long time, but the one thing I can tell you for sure is I am not going to spend the time I have in this lucky miracle of a life worrying about it.

Enjoy the ride. Don't fear the end. It will come for us all soon enough.

And it won't be as bad as you think. Trust me — many have went through it.

Scott Spears can be heard on WWGH 107.1FM weekdays 8:15-10 a.m. He can be reached at email osukid2006@aol.com.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Spears: The big D's in life - depression and death