May Column of the Month - Kwang the Column by Jigga The God
    Submitted by Randomguy#5 on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 3:32 PM EST



    Each month in the LoP Forums, a vote is held to determine which column series is the best. All registered members to the forums are welcome to vote and May's winner was "Kwang The Column" written by Jigga The God. This is the second Column of the Month win for Jigga and his very respectable column. As a reward for winning the COTM vote, Jigga has the opportunity post one of his columns on Lop's Main Page for your viewing pleasure. Please direct all feedback for this work to JTG by clicking HERE. Enjoy.

    KWANG THE COLUMN

    A Personal Public Service

    LordsOfPain, the wrestling news and information website you are viewing right now, does not typically feature articles that could be viewed as public service pieces. This week, though, wrestling fans around the world were struck with a grave and grizzly tragedy involving one of the most (at one time, at least) well-respected performers to ever appear in a wrestling ring, Chris Benoit.

    On a personal note, this column was originally intentioned to feature a list of the 30 Greatest Swerves, Turns, and Shocks of the past 20 years of Professional Wrestling. It was to be my submission after winning the May Column Of The Month Award in the LOPForums’ Columns Section. The list will be presented in that forum in weeks to come.

    Instead, this special column will be dedicated to the legions of fans who have been impacted by the tragedy, the thousands of professional wrestlers who will have to work through the tragedy and somehow find a way to entertain us, and most importantly, the extended Benoit Family. It saddens me tremendously to read so many comments about Chris Benoit deserving to be sent to hell, or to rot in the ground, when we all must remember that he will be survived by sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and other family that would much rather remember him for all the good he brought to the world and all the smiles he put on our faces than as the man who murdered his wife and young son.

    As much as our own emotions, even hate, for Chris Benoit can not be ignored, we must all remember to acknowledge that he left behind a family that needs our sympathy and respect, not our judgment and anger.

    The following statistics were all taken from American and Canadian organizations, research centers, and published researchers’ findings that deal with domestic violence, homicide, uxorcide (the killing of a spouse by their partner), and filicide (the killing of a child by his or her parent). These numbers are presented in the hopes that they will make us all think a little bit about how this tragedy is not an isolated incident, and maybe give us some insight into what steps can be taken to prevent future incidents of this nature in our own lives.


    61% of female homicide victims were wives or intimate acquaintances of their killers.

    1200 women, on average, are killed by an intimate partner each year.

    83% of spouse murderers are male.

    73% of domestic violence incidents go unreported.

    67%-80% of intimate partner homicides involve physical abuse of the female by the male before the murder, no matter which partner is killed.

    60% of filicides are followed by the suicide of the perpetrator.

    At the time of the child’s killing, most of the perpetrators were suffering from a psychiatric illness, usually depressive disorder. Nearly one-third were in a psychotic state.

    Filicides by genetic fathers were disproportionately accompanied by marital discord, suicide, and uxoricide.

    If you are in an abusive relationship, if you know of someone in an abusive relationship, or if you have been witness to domestic abuse or violence, PLEASE find someone trustworthy to talk to. PLEASE call an emergency hotline - there are dozens of which in every state available in the yellow pages or online. PLEASE do not allow your children to become victims as well. PLEASE report instances of domestic abuse to your local police department. DO NOT “put it off” for another day. DO NOT trust that your prayers or your faith in a person changing their ways, despite their promises, will be enough. Professional help is NOT a luxury that is beyond your reach - there are free womens’ shelters, child service facilities, as well as centers of male victims available in every state in the US, but YOU must make the first step and contact the police, your doctor, a local school, a hospital, or a trustworthy friend that can help. Do not live your life in fear.



    In the Spring of 2003, I called a suicide hotline.

    I did not have a razor to my wrists or a noose around my neck when I did. In fact, I knew I wasn’t going to kill myself. I was depressed, though. I had recently been arrested for marijuana possession, underage alcohol possession and consumption, and possession of drug paraphernalia. A girl that I thought I loved had broken up with me. My friends were sick of hearing about my unrequited romance and urged me to move on - but, instead, I just sulked about it for months, listening to Iron and Wine’s “Our Endless Numbered Days” for an endless number of days. I was 20 years old, and I was in a serious funk.

    So I called a suicide hotline just for someone to talk to. After 15 minutes of spilling my guts to a total stranger, I felt better. I was still depressed, and

    I still missed my ex-girlfriend, and I still had to go to court - but that one phone call allowed me to unload a whole mess of emotions while I maintained complete anonymity. It really felt like I’d dropped a couple of pounds of pure sorrow from my shoulders. The faceless support on the other end of that phone line didn’t say much or give me any advice, either. They just listened and let me rattle off my woes. I have the best friends any person could ever have, but sometimes, even your best friends don’t let you sound off for as long as you want. Eventually, they get bored hearing your problems. Hell, I’m guilty of it too. That’s why, if you ever reach that point where you feel the weight of the world on your back and you just don’t feel like sharing it with a friend or family or teacher or anyone else that you know - pick up that phone and call a stranger. You’d be surprised how good it feels to open up to someone you’ll never actually meet.


    This is a wrestling column, so I would like to take some time to talk about wrestling and the impact of Chris Benoit’s death on the WWE. Mostly, I’d just like to rattle off some thoughts, some wishes, some hopes, some whatever.

    I hope the WWE really tightens the screws with the Wellness Policy. I know its not their fault that 3 people are dead or their responsibility to police their roster, but I also think it has become painfully clear that wrestlers, both active and retired, are at a tremendous risk for heart conditions, substance abuse and dependence, and other serious medical and psychological problems. Maybe its time they cut back on the touring and the profits and put some time and money into making sure their roster is as mentally fit as they are physically. Still, I do believe Chris Benoit’s actions had much more to do with Chris Benoit’s own personal mental, internal, and external problems than it did with the WWE’s grueling touring schedule and feigned ignorance of drug abuse in the lockerroom.

    I hope Kurt Angle looks at this and realizes he might have a problem. I hate to single out a worker based solely on reputation, but if the rumours are true that Angle failed a Wellness Policy exam and that he does use anabolic steroids and other substances, I hope he has the wisdom to cut himself off and seek help. Kurt Angle, like hundreds of wrestlers around the world in TNA, WWE, and elsewhere, were not born with needles in their arms and supplements in their veins. They were all, at one point, outstanding pure, natural athletes who felt the pressures of the business push them to use enhancement substances and drugs, maybe none moreso than Angle. Maybe if that pressure can be alleviated, maybe if they can remember all they accomplished WITHOUT these crutches and devices, wrestlers can lead better lives and help their families lead better lives.

    I hope Chris Benoit is not swept under the rug in the history books. Right now, anger and sorrow will keep Chris Benoit’s name in infamy. He murdered his wife. He murdered his son. But he also loved them. He loved his family. Does this make for an unreasonable contradiction? Yes, it certainly does. Murders like this are not easily explained and only the close-minded could think that Chris Benoit could not at once be a loving father and also a brutal killer. He was both. No, he was one, and then he was the other, sadly. But in the end, Chris Benoit’s family, friends, and fans should not feel evil or immoral for their feelings about the man, even if those feelings are inconsistent with his final actions. Chris Benoit may not deserve our respect, but his surviving family certainly does, so please, even if you think what Chris Benoit did was unforgivable, respect the fact that while he was a murderer, he was also a brother, a son, a father, and a friend. A person can be both, and Chris Benoit was.

    I hope the surviving family of Chris Benoit is financially assisted by the WWE. Chris Benoit may not be a hero anymore, but that does not mean his children should not be given the same consideration that the families of Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman, and others were given.

    I hope this is the last time we read about a professional wrestler dying in

    2007. I don’t believe this will be the case, but I hope for it anyway.

    I hope there is at least one wrestling fan out there that saw what happened in this tragedy and got out of an abusive relationship, or pulled their child from an abusive home, or just challenged their abusive spouse or partner to seek help. I hope that someone’s life was changed for the better because of this horrific tragedy.

    I hope Bret Hart, Chavo Guerrero, and all the other wrestlers in the business who have lost their brothers, their best friends, and their idols are happy to

    be alive and happy to have the families that they do. As I saw Bret Hart get interviewed about the tragedy on the news, I thought about how life has not been easy for “The Hitman.” In the past 10 years, he’s lost family, he’s lost his wife, he’s lost his ability to wrestle, he’s lost close friends, and he’s suffered serious medical issues. When he appeared on WWE TV last year, many people wrote that he looked old, seemed bitter, and never flashed his charismatic smile. Well, I hope that was just for the cameras. I hope that in reality he knows how much he is loved by his family, how much he is still adored by his fans, and how much he means to every wrestler who ever saw him work. I hope Chavo can also see the beauty in life, even after so much tragedy in the past three years.

    I hope there are wrestlers right now who aren’t afraid to hang up the boots just because they want one last big payday. I hope there are wrestlers willing to choose family life over road life before its too late. I hope the children of these wrestlers never have to learn their fathers or mothers died because of a wrestling angle or because of substances they abused to keep them in the ring.

    I wish that none of this would’ve happened. That Chris Benoit and his family was still alive, and that all of us wrestling fans could still be ignorant to his marital woes and mental condition. I wish I was posting a funny column about the all-time great swerves of wrestling. I wish I didn’t have to remind wrestling fans that domestic abuse, violence against women, and murder are serious problems that will take real work to fix. I wish I didn’t have to write this column - but I’m glad to get it out of my system.

    Click HERE to send feedback to the author.




    *NEW GALLERY* Very CONTROVERSIAL Shots of Randy Orton in His Hotel Room!!

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