Attention must be paid

Last week the celebrated author, chef and television producer Anthony Bourdain committed suicide by hanging himself in a hotel room.  His apparently charmed life was shadowed by depression; his death made headlines, as they used to say, and dismayed his countless fans.  All week television "news" featured earnest discussions about seeking help, checking on friends, and the seeming paradox of famous rich people who are sad anyway.

Also last week, this obscure man from  Honduras, Marco Antonio Munoz, hanged himself in a cell at the Mexico-U.S. border.  After being forcibly separated from his wife and three-year-old son by the Department of Homeland Security, who know a threat to America when they see one, he "lost his shit" and was locked in a padded detention cell.  It never occurred to anyone to place him on a suicide watch.  He was 39.

Depression is a real thing.  So is the obscene cruelty of breaking up families to score political points and impress the imbecilic.  All day long, pharmaceutical companies advertise pills to lessen depression (which may cause "suicidal thoughts," they add, helpfully).  There is as yet no cure for Trumpism.  We need to find one, fast.

I thought someone should remember Marco Antonio Munoz.