Bob Bergeron committed suicide at 49 -- just before the planned publication of his book, The Right Side of Forty. His suicide note, written on the title page, included this phrase about the book: "It's a lie based on bad information." Perhaps understandably, the publisher cancelled the book's release. So I can't judge the work that Bergeron lost faith in.
Presumably, Bergeron's mission in writing the book was to help spur a healthier outlook on aging for gay men. His disillusionment and suicide send the exact opposite message. However sad his choice might make us, we must not allow it to reinforce an outdated message of hopelessness regarding aging. If aging is a failure, then we all fail.
The colleagues and friends who encouraged me to write about this incident and its implications for gay men hope that I can present an argument that Bergeron was wrong, that both sides of 40 are viable, that as we age, the gains outweigh the losses.
