‘Pair Died as They Lived--Methodically’: Were Couple’s Lives Too Sterile to Bear?

When the news first broke that Douglas and Dana Ridenour had killed themselves, everyone was shocked and confused. And well they should be.

To all appearances, the Ridenours did have “everything going for them”--except that they feared failure, growing old, getting ill, being dependent, losing control. No one likes these things, but most people are willing to accept them as part of life.

Most people are also willing to accept that just as we had no say in being born into this world (which is the ultimate lack of control), we will have no say about when we will leave it.

Suicide is always tragic for one reason or another. Usually people kill themselves when they see it as the only escape from a hopeless situation. It’s obviously no solution, but people can often sympathize with the victim.

But this “rational” approach to killing one’s self is tragic because to opt out for reasons of fear shows how pitiable and empty a life can be even when everything looks good from the outside.

Perhaps Dianne Klein (“It May Take a Poet to Explain Baffling Murder-Suicide,” Aug. 3) is right in saying only a poet could explain the Ridenours’ actions.

Really good poets have always been able to expound on the deepest movements of the human heart, including fear and cowardice.

REV. CHRISTOPHER HEATH

Newport Beach