I know I’m not the first to say it, but I’ll still say it on the off chance someone will listen.

Suicide spree killers are only doing it for the publicity.

They’ve been nothing their “whole” lives (like 19 years is a long time to suffer living) and now, even if it’s in death, they are something. This kid Hawkins was a loser, and I can see how he might decide to give up. But he didn’t need to take eight people with him. So why did he?

I know that the families of the victims probably want to be heard, want their loved ones memorialized in some way. They don’t want to feel like the death is swept under the rug and their life was in vain. But in the interest of future victims, we need to stop making such a big deal out of these spree killers. A local news story should suffice. Report it like any other murder in the city. But don’t blow it up to some sensational national headline. That will only encourage other losers to go down in a blaze of glory at some future date. If they don’t think they will gain some sort of posthumous notoriety, they will off themselves in the privacy of their own homes, and no one else has to suffer.

In the next 12 months, the U.S. Presidential candidates will spout off sound bites on a lot of issues – global warming, global economy, the war in Iraq, etc. One thing they will not be talking about is population control. And yet, overpopulation is at the root of many, if not all, of humanity’s current crises.

In 1998, I bought a book called Too Many People by Roy Calne. It was in the last few months that I lived in New York, on that crowded island of Manhattan. Back then, I had a sense that the world was getting ready to end, or at least go through some major upheaval. In that last year of my residence, a great number of building facades were falling from their structures (including one whole outer wall of Kurt Vonnegut’s apartment building). I felt the city was trying to tell me something. “Get away. Live a simpler life. Slow down a bit.” I heeded that advice and moved to the West Coast. The world didn’t end, but I was finally able to breathe.

Back to the book. Although I never actually read the book – spent too much time reading and thinking about Viktor Frankl instead – I thought a lot about the message within its pages. It sat on my bookshelf for years, perhaps stimulating some thought in those people visibly curious about my reading materials. Recently, I’ve been thinking about that book a lot more.

People talk about global warming. They talk about all the ways we can reverse the effects. Ride the bus, ride a bicycle, recycle paper and plastic and glass, find alternative fuels, the list goes on. No one ever says stop having babies.

People talk about health care. They talk about socialization, privatization, but never about sterilization.

People talk about how dumb our kids are getting. About our society being addicted to reality shows and celebrity gossip. They don’t talk about the watering down of the gene pool.

All of the problems our society has can be positively affected by limiting our procreation. Whether enforced or voluntary, we don’t need all of us. We’d be better off without some of us.

I’ve pulled that book off my shelf and am going to read it finally. Hopefully it will get my mind juices flowing, and I will elaborate on each of the above points. Maybe more.

Allow me to make myself clear – I am not in any way a proponent of breast cancer.

Breast cancer can be painful in more than one way, and it can be deadly. I haven’t known anyone personally who has suffered or succumbed to breast cancer, but I’ve known people with other cancers. I watched my uncle go through chemo for colon cancer. My grandfather recently beat esophageal cancer only to have it crop up in his lungs and liver. A coworker’s spouse was recently diagnosed with leukemia. I have myself had a touch of that all-too-common cervical cancer. The point being, there are other cancers.

I recognize that there was a reason the whole pink ribbon thing came about. Awareness is the first step and all that. But I would challenge any American to find a neighbor who doesn’t know what that pink ribbon represents. At this point, it has become crass commercialism. It’s like Valentine’s day or Christmas or Grandparents Day. Another excuse for people to buy a bunch of crap they probably don’t need to make themselves feel better about their own ugly lives for a few minutes. Only this is every day of the year.

Is all this pink stuff really helping to fight breast cancer? How much of the profit on that pink toaster is really going to research? Are we any closer to a cure now that nearly every consumable and most household appliances come in pink? If I had a house full of a bunch of pink shit, I’d want to get cancer, and fast.

The pink ribbon, like the yellow bracelet, was a great idea whose time has passed.

I am not in human resources. I am not in personnel. However, over the years, I’ve been given the task of hiring people for my department. I place the ads, contact the career services offices at local schools, schedule and conduct the interviews, and this is all in addition to my normal workload. Therefore, when I schedule an interview, I also have to schedule the rest of my day around that interview. What do I dislike more than the interviews themselves? People not showing up for said interview without an email or a phone call.

I never used to have this problem. But now twice this year, I’ve had no-shows. In August, I had at least two, maybe three. And now again, I’ve had two no-shows. The disturbing part about the August interviews was that the candidates seemed genuinely interested in the position. One I had spoken to several times before scheduling. Another I spoke to on the phone the very morning of the appointment. I just don’t understand.

Maybe they got another offer before their appointment with me. Sure that’s a tad disappointing, but I would at least like a short little email – “sorry can’t make it. no need to reschedule.” Then I could go about my day at my normal pace and schedule.

P.S. If you are a no-show, don’t send in your resume a few days later as if nothing happened.