Killing Yourself To Live

If you're from Generation X(or you're three years on either side of 30), think about getting a copy of Chuck Klosterman's 2005 release, "Killing Yourself To Live." This is precisely the kind of book I love!

Klosterman is a writer for Spin magazine-something I haven't read in at least a decade. In this book, Klosterman goes on a mega road trip from NYC to Florida to Mississippi to Iowa to Seattle. All along the way, he visits famous sites where rock stars died; the Chelsea Hotel in NYC where Sid killed Nancy, the intersection in Georgia where Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident, the swamp in Mississippi where Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane went down, the Iowa farrm field where Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died and, finally, Seattle where Kurt Cobain blew his head off. All along the way, Klosterman muses on his interpersonal relationships and childhood history, intertwining his own stories with those of the pop culture icons and their places of demise. Fascinating!

At one point,, Klosterman gives an example of a test psychiatrists use to determine whether someone is schziophrenic(sp?). Here's the test...

The mental health expert tells a short story, then poses the question: Why?

A woman's husband dies suddenly. She is afraid, lonely and depressed. At the funeral, she meets and spends two hours talking to a man. A week later, the widow kills her sister. Why?

A "normal" person will answer, "The man was her sister's husband. Out of desparation, she kills her sister to get the man." A schzio will answer, "She wanted to have another funeral, knowing this man would be there again."

Folks, I have no idea if this is so. No clue if this is truly a test mental health experts actually do.Still, I'd like to know the truth-because I had an answer that was not "normal" and not "schzio."

My wonderment was this:

The woman killed her sister out of jealousy. The two women look the same(they-are- sisters, after all) and the widow thought the man may see the sis, be more interested in her, and the widow would remain alone.

So, am I nuts? I dunno. Probably. Any mental health experts wanna give me an analysis?