not painless

seems like everytime i read the paper or a magazine or go online, there's another story about suicide. t.tex recently reposted a story about american farmer suicides, and the last time i ate lunch at kincaid's, i read a story in time magazine about army recruiter suicides. i read in this morning's star-t about the suicide of a young man from kazakhstan who was brought to this country and adopted by a former peace corps worker. i have to admit that that's one form of human behavior i've never been able to understand. are there really that many people feeling that level of hopelessness today?