Friday, Dec. 02 2011 11:02AM
Its News to Me
A dark day indeed
By John Beaudoin, jbeaudoin@lsjournal.com
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ReprintI cannot imagine what was going on inside Don Harman’s head. I just can’t. None of us can. And short of his wife and daughter, none of us should try to judge or adjudicate on what we now know is the suicide of a popular TV figure here in Kansas City.
For a lot of us, Don Harman was more than a voice and face on WDAF Fox 4. We almost feel like we knew him. We knew what we saw on TV but had no idea of the pain and anguish this man must have lived through outside of live television. See, in Kansas City, we like to take on the local personalities as our friends. It’s just what we do. And we are particularly guilty of this when it comes to our weathermen and women.
The likes of Bryan Busby, Gary Lezak, Katie Horner, Mike Thompson and Don Harman are the latest in a long line of familiar, friendly faces that go back decades in this town. We know these folks through blips of time and are sometimes awestruck when we see them in public. And then we learn the best thing of all – they are just like us. And that endears them even more in our eyes.
Busby is funny in person. Harman did laugh a lot. Lezak does love his dogs. I ran into Mike Thompson once at Worlds of Fun, and he couldn’t have been friendlier.
The weather personalities are larger than life in this market, which is a relatively small TV market in comparison.
We get to celebrate their wins – marriages, children, awards, accolades – and we grieve with them during their difficult times. We just haven’t had to grieve for them. At least not in my time. And when we lose someone in such a tragic and mysterious way as suicide, it just compounds the feelings, the anguish, for all of us.
Watching his morning crewmates Wednesday was just excruciating. They couldn’t keep it together, and no one can blame them for that. All of a sudden, they are not just reporting the news. They are the news. That’s a tough spot for any journalist to be in.
Throughout Facebook and the blogosphere, we’ve also heard from professionals and anyone with an opinion about depression and suicide. Most are being civil and showing that ounce of humanity we want to see. Some are not. My hope is that before anyone dares to weigh in on this situation, they stop and think long and hard about his wife and daughter, Monica and Avery.
I heard on the radio this morning someone call the act of suicide “cowardly.”
Those people most likely have never met someone battling depression so severe that the act of taking your own life felt like a last resort.
Let’s hope they never do.
Rest in peace Don Harman.
John Beaudoin is the publisher of the Lee’s Summit Journal. To comment, call 816-282-7001 or e-mail jbeaudoin@lsjournal.com
