What do people over-romanticize?

Yesterday I stayed home sick from work and slept in. I woke up to hear a woman screaming in the most horrible way I have ever heard outside. Threw on some shoes and went running out to see if she needed help. Hit the bottom of the stairwell in the complex and what I saw has traumatized me.

A young man not much older than me (mid twenties) had shot himself in the head in his car. My brain has somewhat reduced it to just shadows, but it was one of the most horrible things I have ever seen. This woman, obviously someone close to him, was hysterically screaming and so completely bereft. I will never forget the sound of her screams. And I will never forget seeing that total stranger, buckled in still, with his head drooping.

Really made me consider the impacts. I cannot judge that man. I do not know what demons he had, or his struggles. But it shook me to my core. Life has not been easy for me lately, but just hearing that woman scream and seeing it actually in person... There is nothing romantic or idyllic about something so entirely terrible.

/r/AskReddit Thread Parent