Suicides – A sad truth we are facing today

What can be more dangerous to a society than the fact that many of its youngster are committing suicide. The reasons are many. Every day when I turn the newspaper I invariably come across at least one story of suicide. The age ranges from 15 to 80.

While I was growing up I only used to read about the suicides due to financial pressure. People who could not settle their debts, who could not earn a living for their family would end up committing suicides. Farmer suicide is one of the most important topic which should be addressed today according to me. A country which had 80% of income coming from agriculture a few decades back should not be facing farming suicides in such large numbers.

But what concerns me more is the suicide among youngster today. I believe the problems have grown multifold today. There is a lot pressure when it comes to education, lifestyle, career, family life etc. Most of it can be contributed to the pressure we put on us fearing about what others would think. The best example would be education. Every parent put a thought in the child’s mind that if they don’t score well they would not get an admission in the top institute and there career will be screwed. This puts a lot of pressure on the child. Some of them are not able to handle the pressure and opt for the worst choice when they don’t get good results in the examinations. We need to start educating the parents on priority that a good academic score is not the only thing in life. You should nurture the creativity of the child rather than pressuring him with academic credentials.

Coming to this book “The Story of a Suicide” I was very impressed with the way it started. These are lines which a person would feel when he thinks everything is over for him/ her now.

“I am leaving. I am tired of fighting. I am tired of struggling to survive. I have finally made a choice today. Yes, I give up.”

Well, when we read a story of a suicide we think he/ she had given up easily. They should have fought instead. I can say that coming to a decision of committing suicide is not that easy. The book touched upon story of a defeat in love for one of its main characters. The various emotions which the characters come across like love, hatred, revenge and despair were all explained beautifully.

One more instance where I just felt connected was on the below lines:

“When I tried committing suicide, a part of me thought I was hurting the people who caused my suffering. I thought my action would teach them a lesson. Come to think about it now, I did not get any sadistic pleasure or justice. I just felt guilty and miserable."

The above lines are so perfectly written. This is the exact feeling which most of the people who fail in love think they are doing. They think the opposite person abandoned me and now seeing my dead body they will feel miserable and lose happiness. I can connect with this because I happened to see an interview of a person once who tried to commit suicide from Kodaikanal suicide point due to love failure. Fortunately for him he did not die and was rescued by some locals there. He mentioned the exact same words, well almost. Today when he looks back at the incident after 10 years he thinks it was stupid.

Most of the decisions which we take in anger or despair is always wrong. My suggestion to any youngster is that when you are thinking of a suicide, just take 10 minutes and think of all good things that happened in your life. Think of the loved ones in your life. You parents, sister, wife, kids and friends. Think if your death will bring a smile to their face. I am sure it will not. There are so many inspirational stories around us who have turned stone into gold after years of failure. Take wisdom from the great. You don’t have to be on top of the world but even if you had made a difference in at least one person’s life in your lifetime then you have achieved something.

Be happy and spread happiness.