Chapter 6
The Law of Illusion: Lie to Me
A false sense of security is the only kind there is.
—Michael Meade, author
Owen Thomas had his life ahead of him. At 21 years old, his intellectual capabilities earned him enrollment at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania, and his athletic prowess resulted in his election as a captain by his football teammates. The popular junior was a third-generation football player who acquired his taste for the sport when he began playing at the age of nine. The love of the game was shared by his family, who delighted in seeing talented Owen crush the competition with jaw-dropping hits. “He loved to hit people,” his mother said. “He loved to go into practice and hit really hard. He loved to intimidate.… We all love football. We all love watching. We all love these great hits.”
Yes, Owen Thomas had his life ahead of him. That is, until he opted for suicide instead on a fateful Monday afternoon in April of 2010. The news was staggering to those who knew him. He had never shown signs of depression. His cell phone, at the ready for a call that was never to be placed, lay in his pocket as he took his life by hanging. Family and friends had no solace or closure from an explanatory note that was never left behind. Evidence of events preceding and at the horrific scene hardly painted a picture of a distressed young adult with a premeditated appetite for suicide. Instead, the tragedy was as mysterious as it was heartbreaking—until an autopsy of his brain ...
