Monday, June 19, 2006

Skilling yourself to live

I realize that our 24-hour news culture can make us all a little jaded, but every now and then you come across a story that just breaks your heart.

Last weekend's Wall Street Journal had an interview with former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling, who says that he contemplated suicide during the lowest part of his corporate scandal.

The AP story reports:

During those couple of years of depression, Skilling said he turned into a recluse, retreating to his mansion in an upscale part of Houston, where he lingered in bed and obsessively followed coverage of the scandal.

Wow, that poor guy. Though it's interesting to note that he had so much in common with those who lost their life savings thanks to Enron's financial collapse. Okay, not a whole lot in common, as they could no longer afford mansions, or the upscale part of Houston, or maybe a bed and cable TV.

But they all had one thing in common: he wanted to kill himself, and the others wanted to kill him too.

3 comments:

Courtney said...

I heart Neel.

Anonymous said...

Nice post.

"I heart Neel."

Who doesn't? ;)

Brando said...

No kidding, Neel. You know, if someone walks into a bank and robs it, you maybe scare some people pretty well, but if no one gets hurt physically, you don't ruin someone's life.

Yet these guys toyed with the future well being of their employees. They lied to them to believe in the company while financing their own safety nets. For Skilling to contemplate suicide and then publicly discuss how he contemplated it just confirms what a weak, cowardly man he is.