Page 28 - THE ENDLESS WAVE | Skateboarding, Death & Spirituality

THE ENDLESS WAVE | PART ONE
From what I have learned, there are 9 key reasons why people take their own life:
Depression
Traumatic stress
Substance abuse
Loss or fear of loss Hopelessness
Chronic pain and illness Feeling like a burden to others Social isolation
Cry for help
I have known three skateboarders who have committed suicide and all but one were in this category. They were all men and I spent quite a bit of time with them. One was Warren Bolster and I’ve shared with you some of his stories. The second man, unfortunately, is someone I can’t write about for reasons of confidentiality.
But the third man is someone who I can write about. His name was Martin Streek. Martin was a very well-known Toronto disc jockey and worked for many years at CFNY/The Edge. Our paths crossed because he was into long- boarding back in the late 1990’s. Martin was a pretty big deal in Toronto and to have him rolling around with my little crew of skaters was quite cool.
After one particularly bad fall, where he shredded his back with road rash, someone managed to take a photo and it appeared in the first edition of International Longboarder Magazine (of which I was the founder and co- publisher).
The times that I spent with Martin were pretty wild. He was a pretty intense guy to be with. He had a manic energy that was both amusing and alarming. I think it had something to do with his rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. Oddly enough, we had more than just skateboarding in common.
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