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"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide [...] All the rest -- Whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories -- comes afterwards." (Camus 495.)
By now, most music manic's in Toronto are aware that on Monday July 6th Martin Streek was found dead. CNFY mourned the loss of their recently "released" colleague with the same polite euphemisms present in funeral homes and hospitals. Martin Streek died, Martin Streek passed on, Martin Streek is no longer with us. What wasn't stated would lead to controversy; Martin Streek committed suicide. That sounds cold, doesn't it? Is this because the general consensus around suicide usually revolves around a reason? With Streek, the allegations are already flying. You may feel that Corus radio was at fault, that they pushed his hand when they fired him. If this is how you feel, you can join a facebook group and pledge your support for boycotting the would be "culprits".
It would be nice to pin our responsibilities onto others in this fashion. Than it would never be the child's fault for shooting up his school, but rather the music that the child listens to. Forget about blaming the parent who doesn't spend enough time with their child, or the child for choosing their own actions. The fault lays in the responsible hands of he who possess the most power. In Streek's case, this is Corus, and I might be willing to agree that they were the cause; however, since we are not living in the feudal times of Japan, and the great warlord Corus did not sentence Streek to committee Seppuku, I have a hard time swallowing this pill.
Streek was a Sisyphus. He dug his heels in and climbed the long haul with CFNY, carrying his share of their burden for over 20 years before being fired earlier this spring.
I could just image waking up every Saturday morning, groggy and tired from a long night at the Kingdom/Sound Academy. Pulling sleep from my eyes to revel in the prospect of having a day to myself. A day where I didn't have to perform the same mundane task over and over again, smiling oh too brightly for the country gals, wrapped too tight for comfort in their hot pink tube top and rough cut jeans. The infinite and incessant High fives to the spiny haired guys from Woodbridge, who were all "total pro's".
I could just image waking up every Saturday morning and realizing that I had to do it the same again every day. But would this still call on suicide? Obviously not for Sisyphus, or Streek.
Like the hero of our story, Sisyphus was charged a mundane task--he had to roll a boulder to the top of a high mountain, at which point it would begin to roll back down so that he could go back and repeat the same task again. But like Streek, it wasn't a task of the mundane.
"The Gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreaful punishment than futile and hopeless labour." (Camus .589)
Was it the work, or the lack of work that forced his hand?
That is a ridiculous question to ask, the solution will not change the events outcome.