I am not going to say anything about that guy in this post.

You know, the one who’s been in the news. Who made all the headlines. I think he made a terrible mistake. He is young, and he is throwing his life away. Whatever the poll numbers say about the surprizing number of Americans who support his actions, he used lethal force. I do not approve.

It does seem tragic to me that we don’t have better support systems in place in the Open Source “Community” for those who are not finding fulfillment in the work world. I will say that depression and suicide are unacknowledged problems in our field. From what I could ascertain in the brief news article I saw, another talented and promising programmer took his own life earlier this fall. He was a former employee of leading San Francisco AI startup, one that you have no doubt heard of. I am glad that his passing was acknowledged, but I think it is really absolutely as dangerous to glamorize suicide as it is to glamorize murder.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to form a community that can provide a support system for people between jobs. It actually may turn out to be a little bit bigger than that, but I don’t want to overpromise. I am lucky enough to be employed but who knows what the future holds. I just know I want and need a part in shaping it. Hey, it’s getting late, even out here on Pacific Time.

I am going to call it a night.