SOME LAST WORDS: ‘I LOVE YOU,’ ‘I’M HAPPY’

Over the 15 years he has spent studying adolescent suicide, University of Minnesota psychiatrist Barry Garfinkel has amassed a collection of hundreds of suicide notes.

These are some of the last words written by young people 12 to 19 years of age before they killed themselves:

“To whomever it may concern, goodbye.”

“I love you all, but this is something I have to do.”

“Mom, I love you. Dad, I wish I knew you . . . I tried.”

“For the first time in my life, I am now really happy.”

“Sorry for the selfish act, but I dislike myself too much to live. . . . Life has failed me as much as I have failed.”

“I’m just so mixed up. I’m as much a nobody as a nobody can be. Please don’t hate me for this.”

“I don’t want anything fancy--just a plain black coffin.”

From a 12-year-old to his mother: “Tell (my sister) don’t worry. I never was a good brother. I loved you so much, but you didn’t care. . . . “P. S. Please don’t come to my funeral. I only want people there who will love me. Probably no one will come.”