Not for lack of trying.

To an outside observer it would seem that my brothers son (my godson) is actively trying to kill himself. It also seems that if it weren't for bad luck this kid would have no luck at all. His father describes him as, well, an accident waiting to happen.

Most people can look back and recount one traumatic, possibly life-threatening experience from their youth, this kid is on number three.

He is attending college in the capital city, about two hours from home. One night he is making his way home. He is attacked and ends up beaten within an inch of his life. I am sure they said baseball bats were involved.

I believe the very next year, he is out in BC at a party. There is an altercation and somehow he ends up being sliced open by a guy with a machete. I know, you're saying, 'who has a machete in the city'? This kid managed to find the one person who did, and proceeded to piss him off.

Fast forward to the present, he is out partying and falls out of ... wait for it ... a tree and breaks his back. I kid you not, seventh vertebrae. By some miracle he can still move his limbs. (no he is not 12, he is 23)

These are just the incidents that we know of. The ones requiring hospitalization. I am sure there are more that only his friends know about. I would put money on it.

Common denominator? Alcohol. Not a substance that our family tree has a particularly good relationship with. My father was an alcoholic and I would say two of my brothers, if they are not careful, are primed to follow in his footsteps.

They say when you have alcoholism in your family you have to be careful, that it is hereditary. This boy has been very lucky so far, but I worry that his luck will run out.

I am hoping, for his parents sake, that this experience will snap him out of it. That he will realize that maybe, just maybe, he can't handle his liquor. Maybe its time to knock off the booze before he succeeds in actually killing himself.

I spoke to his mother a couple days after all this, he was home. Turns out just a hair line fracture. He will be fine but he has to take it very easy. (ya, I can see that happening)

"He is in pain but on meds, he just has to take it easy for a while."

"Ok, well, tell him I said... (and I pause, feel better? get well soon? what do you say?) tell him I said...KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF!"