14-year-old genius boy commits suicide

[kranky]

He started reading as a toddler, played piano at age 3, and delivered a high-school commencement speech in cap and gown when he was 10 ? his eyes barely visible over the podium.

Brandenn Bremmer was a child prodigy: He composed and recorded music, won piano competitions, breezed through college courses with an off-the-charts IQ, and mastered everything from archery to photography, hurtling through life precociously.

Then, on Tuesday, Brandenn was found dead in his Nebraska home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.

He was 14. He left no note.

"Sometimes we wonder if maybe the physical, earthly world didn't offer him enough challenges and he felt it was time to move on and do something great," his mother, Patricia, said from the family home in Venango, Neb., a few miles from the Colorado border.

Brandenn showed no signs of depression, she said. He had just shown his family the art for the cover of his new CD that was about to be released.

He was, according to his family and teachers, an extraordinary blend of fun-loving child and serious adult. He loved Harry Potter and Mozart. He watched cartoons and enjoyed video games but gave classical-piano concerts for hundreds of people ? without a hint of stage fright.

"He wasn't just talented, he was just a really nice young man," said David Wohl, an assistant professor at Colorado State University, where Brandenn studied music after high school. "He had an easy smile. He really was unpretentious."

Link to full story.

What could possibly make a 14-year-old - genius or not - commit suicide? What can make someone that age think there's nothing to live for? This teen suicide increase is really baffling to me.

 

[Baked]

Genuis = Psycho. He was too smart for his own good.

 

[gflores]

It's sad, but repost.

 

[artikk]

Repost and that is tragic.

 

[FleshLight]

Maybe he figured out that no matter what we do on this earth, we still turn to dust.

 

[aplefka]

It seems that most of the time it's the intelligent ones that commit suicide, which is really sad.

Although with the whole "emo/punk/goth" trends over the past couple years, more and more idiots are killing/trying to kill themselves too.

 

[Specop 007]

We had a near genuious kid in our town kill himself about 2 weeks ago or so.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: Baked
Genuis = Psycho. He was too smart for his own good.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

My guess would be there was a lot of pressure from his parents, and he became compulsive about being an overachiever.

I've known molestation victims who attempted suicide at ages as young as 7.

 

[Trevelyan]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Maybe he figured out that no matter what we do on this earth, we still turn to dust.

 

[EyeMWing]

Speaking as a certified genius, I can tell you that, with very few exception, as soon as people find out you're smarter than you should be, they try to use you. You KNOW this kid's parents were using him for their own ends, and that probably drove him to it.

He couldn't deal with it, so....

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: DonVito
My guess would be there was a lot of pressure from his parents, and he became compulsive about being an overachiever.

That was going to be my answer...

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Speaking as a certified genius, I can tell you that, with very few exception, as soon as people find out you're smarter than you should be, they try to use you. You KNOW this kid's parents were using him for their own ends, and that probably drove him to it.

He couldn't deal with it, so....

:evil:

- M4H

 

[Gurck]

I'm nowhere near as smart as that kid and find it depressing that our species is, by and large, so extraordinarily stupid. I can definitely see him being pretty depressed. Dumber people are definitely emotionally better off.

 

[QuitBanningMe]

Originally posted by: Trevelyan

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Maybe he figured out that no matter what we do on this earth, we still turn to dust.

This would be my guess. There really is no point to life other than to reproduce. I'm surprised more people don't off themselves.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: DonVito
My guess would be there was a lot of pressure from his parents, and he became compulsive about being an overachiever.

I've known molestation victims who attempted suicide at ages as young as 7.

Sad as it is, I can understand someone who was molested wanting to do that if only to end the molestation. But I can't believe that's the motivation behind so many of the teen suicides.

 

[Heifetz]

I think because of his circumstances, he really skipped the maturation process of simply growing up before dealing with the issues that he had to deal with. Sure the kid could be smarter than a 30 year old, but w/o every growing up and living through situations that a 30 year old would face, perhaps it was just too much for him. I'm sure everyone around him also had unreal expectations for him, instead of letting him be a kid.

 

[slydecix]

There was an article in the Boston Globe a couple weeks ago about the struggles of being a child prodigy. Interesting read.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: kranky

"Sometimes we wonder if maybe the physical, earthly world didn't offer him enough challenges and he felt it was time to move on and do something great," his mother, Patricia, said from the family home in Venango, Neb., a few miles from the Colorado border.

being food for worms isn't that great

 

[moshquerade]

he was even too smart to leave a suicide note

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: Heifetz
I think because of his circumstances, he really skipped the maturation process of simply growing up before dealing with the issues that he had to deal with. Sure the kid could be smarter than a 30 year old, but w/o every growing up and living through situations that a 30 year old would face, perhaps it was just too much for him. I'm sure everyone around him also had unreal expectations for him, instead of letting him be a kid.

I'd agree with this. The mind of a 30-year old attached to the emotions and experience of a 14-year old boy... that couldn't have been healthy. From the sound of it, he probably didn't spend much time (if any at all) with others his age.

 

[saltedeggman]

maybe he was just thinking too much... his mind cannot simply rest being how he is

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: russianpower
Repost and that is tragic.

no, it isn't. where is the tragic flaw? there isn't one. sad != tragic. romeo and juliet is tragic. the crucible is tragic. but this is just sad.

 

[zip1385]

That sucks. Now he can rest.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: slydecix
There was an article in the Boston Globe a couple weeks ago about the struggles of being a child prodigy. Interesting read.

My math teacher gave that article to me to read during class.