Chris Benoit 5 years later

We are coming up on the 5 year anniversary of the Chris Benoit tragedy. I think of this tragedy many times a year for several reasons: A)I am still a wrestling fan (laugh of you want) B) I always loved Chris' character C) Chris is a born Montrealer D) the criminal justice impact of what he did and his victims, his family E) the reasons for this horrible act with hindsight. For those of you who may not remember or know about this case, Chris Benoit was a former professional wrestler who killed his wife and two kids before killing himself. It was mediatized as wrestlers acting out and being bad people. The discussion of brain injury came up at the time slightly and is now considered the actual reason for this gruesome crime. This was all triggered a few days ago when I read that Our Lady Peace has not played "Whatever", Chris Benoit's theme song, since this tragic day. That angered me. I think it is backwards to think that if we don't talk about it, it will go away. It's destructive and short sighted. It's also pretty ignorant. "If you ignore history, you are doomed to repeat it" someone once said. Chris was a decent man who had been married to his job for many years. In order to do that, he took many risks who caused physical injuries, as well as brain and psychological injuries. To be able to perform for the fans, he dealt with injuries, using medications. One could assume pain medications, as well as steroids. We have devilized him for the end of his life. However, we must look at other stuff before we put squarely on him. First of all, I understand he put those medications in his body. However, why did he do this? Was it the wrestling business? The fans? Other stuff? A little of all four of these factors? That, to me, is the real answer. Some will say I am putting blame on others. I believe that we are quick to blame a single factor as it is easier. But when is a negative event the result of a single factor? Chris Benoit probably shouldn't have taken all those medications. He probably should have stayed home and rest. But how many of you get paid to stay home? How many of you would actually stay home until you were 100% better? How many of you take all your meds "as prescribed" and then return to work when your med regimen has taken it's course...OK how many were able to say that they did all these things as prescribed and who cares if they get paid? That is what I though. Some of his violence may have been due to all this and pressures of employers, as well as society. We can devilized Chris Benoit but he is no different than most of us. If we learned to look at people as people who make mistakes instead of going into "black and white" thinking, we would be able to understand others better and ourselves. Let me know what you think of this blog.