Logbook entry: Nuiqsut to Wasilla, via Barrow and Anchorage, entry 3: choose life

I had a three/hour layover in Barrow, long enough for me to take care of some Uiniq business at the North Slope Borough. I had barely stepped inside and climbed up the stairs when a young woman who I did not know asked me if I would add my name to a statement about choosing life over suicide, and then let her photograph me holding the poster. I did. Shortly after that, she asked several workers from the Mayor's Office if they would do the same as a group. They agreed. As they posed, North Slope Borough Mayor Charlotte Brower, right, showed up and joined in the picture, too.

I took a couple of shots, too, both with my "real "camera and this iPhone. My "real" camera photos are sharp and crisp, but there was not really enough light for the iPhone and my shutter speed slowed down so much I could not get an iPhone photo that did not have some camera shake and blur in it. I think some blur is appropriate here. When you lose someone you love to suicide, the whole world goes blurry. It is a blur like no other blur caused by death of a loved one by any other means. So, yes, choose life – if not for yourself for those you love, for those who love you. At the moment it may not seem like it, but in time the pain will ease and you will be glad you chose life. So will they, whether they know it or not.