Jewelry salesman Alexander Makowski was devastated. Just three weeks before, in Phoenix, his sample case had been stolen. Now he had returned to the parking lot of the San Diego hotel where he was staying to find that his car and jewelry worth $100,000 were missing. Alexander could take no more. He climbed to the balcony over the hotel atrium lobby, lifted himself over the railing, and plunged five floors. Mr. Makowski ended his life at fifty-nine years. The real tragedy was that if he had looked in the right place, he would have found his car and the jewelry still waiting for him in the hotel parking lot. (1)

What is it that causes people to give up on life? What is it that causes them to get so down that they feel helpless to go on?

One of the most amazing and tragic phenomena in moder…