http://www.victorianweb.org/books/suicide/06b.html

Joseph Merrick suffered from “Proteus Syndrome” and was also known as “The Elephant Man”.

‘Tis true, my form is something odd
but blaming me, is blaming God,
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

This is a rhyme used in Merrick’s sideshow pamphlet, and which he is said to have often quoted, followed by the lines:

If I could reach from pole to pole
or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul
The mind’s the standard of the Man.

(These are from “False Greatness” by Isaac Watts, first published in Horae Lyricae (1706) Bk. II)

If you read the link at the top and follow the sequence of ideas through this post, you will not doubt think of several scripture applications.

Supposedly the Elephant Man actually committed suicide by letting his heavy head hang down to stop his own breath.

Even though he used the upbeat quote in his travelling show, he apparently was not an upbeat personality—at least in the beginning.

Later when his fourtunes seemed to take a better turn, after his rescue from the travelling show, he apparently still had an attitude of “I can’t bear it here,” and thus ended his own life.

Perhaps the strongest scripture for those who are depressed about life and their circumstances would be what Paul said in Maybe Paul’s statement in Phil 4:11-13.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

—Beth Johnson