(3/6) “I lost my dad when I was eleven. So I know what it...

(3/6) “I lost my dad when I was eleven. So I know what it means to be sad. I just didn’t know that you could die from being too sad. Kevin called us the night before. He hadn’t been sleeping. He’d been up all night playing this game called Sim City, and he’d just beaten the game. He’d become a four star general or something, and his friends were so happy for him, but he sounded so sad. He said: ‘I did everything the world says is success, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.’ Then he quoted Henry David Thoreau– that line about the masses living lives of quiet desperation. And he was crying. And I said: ‘Kevin, I’m so proud of you. I’d be proud of you even if you were digging ditches. If it’s the Army, drop out. I’ll pay back the scholarships.’ But he told me: ‘Dad, I can’t quit. It’s the soldier’s creed.’ So I just told him that I loved him. And that was the last time we spoke. We got a call the next night from Jeffrey. They were living together at the time. Jeffrey was hysterical. He said: ‘Dad. Kevin’s gone!’ I said: ‘What do you mean? Gone?’ And he said: ‘Kevin’s dead! He hung himself!’ And I just started screaming: ‘No! No! No!’ And I told Carol what happened. And she wasn’t crying. I remember feeling scared that she wasn’t crying. She just fell on the floor and started crawling to the living room. She was trying to get to her Bible.”