Suicide; What is wrong?

Every 40 seconds a person takes suicide (WHO, 2014) world-wide. You can do a simple math, that, in a year about 800,000 lives are lost. This is a loud and alarming call for the mankind to wake up and respond. Suicides in a small country like Bhutan are definitely not affordable. The news and gruesome pictures of suicide in Bumthang triggered my worst worries. Suicide is not a solution and therefore not desirable, in any society.

All life is a natural journey. It will take its own course and end naturally when elements fall apart. Any intervention to abruptly end a life is morally wrong and suicide is an extreme one. Without reaching the natural end, the journey is incomplete. Nothing comes out of incomplete journeys. Therefore they are hollow.

No one lives a fairy-tale life. Everyone has a story to tell, if you provoke.  Struggles are the necessary ingredients of a meaningful life. Without struggles achievements has no value. You can’t end life, just because you can’t overcome a perceived problem in life. This indicates your short-sighted approach to life.

When you have a problem that you think is terminal, stop for a while. Look around at people and think. You will realize in time, that your problem is not so much a deal as you think. There are people who face much more disasters on a daily basis and still choose to continue the fight.

When it comes to perceived terminal situations in life, always make an effort to talk to people because we live in a human society. Communication helps a lot. You do not live in a vacuum; you have lot of people, animals and things around. Just because reasons run out from your head doesn’t mean a door is shown. It just means you could not think through. Situations are different and I know sometimes it’s just terrible but little bit of waiting and calming down can change the course of actions. Life is the most beautiful thing that you cannot cut short.

Stephen Hawking is still living, he cannot talk normally.He communicates through a speech generating device. He was rendered utterly paralyzed by motor neuron disease related to ALS. He was left almost like a vegetable but he chose to live and later he continued his works in popular science. He earned honors and accolades including highest civilian award in the US for his works. He still lives. He did not resort to suicide nor did he appeal for euthanasia as, such people normally do. This is an epitome of how precious a life is. No arguments for able bodied people, it ends here.

When young people die of suicide it means something is wrong with the society. Society in my definition includes family, teachers, peers, culture and trends. As it is observed “Empty mind is a devils workshop” and it’s true. Young minds are receptive to any idea, therefore it is important to sow seeds of good and useful ideas even at a cost. Otherwise bad and destructive ideas take root and with ease.

It starts with the family to drive a sense of what is right and wrong at home. Then it is teachers who inculcate useful values at school. Today we live in a global village and the cultural environment is the globe itself, therefore young people should be guarded from bad influences through internet and TV. But as adults it is our moral responsibility to show the right example too. 

In my view movies are a very powerful medium of communication. Movie industry should put some restraints before showing explicit, criminal, killing and terror material, because humanity comes ahead of business interests.

Young people think that suicides are romantic. But this is a myth. Nothing is so romantic about taking a life. This is simply drowning of a boat with Buddha in it. For the sake of love, you can put up fierce fights and live, rather than putting an end to it. Taking suicide, you are accepting defeat even before you have started the battle.

If you have a point to prove for love, you can only do so by living. Romeo and Juliet are just the figments of Shakespeare’s imagination. They took suicide in his head not in reality. Gasa Lamai Singay and Galem are just some invalidated oral legends. We do not know whether they were real persons or merely a concocted love story. By taking suicide for love, you are ridiculing your intellect. There is neither romance nor a meaning in it.

In the final analysis, suicide is not a solution. It is a problem. You had a problem that you could not solve and by taking suicide you are creating another unnecessary problem for the people whom you love. A normal thinking person would not do that. Suicide for me is a sign of cowardice, because brave people chose to face and fight for life. History is full of brave people who fought for life till their last breath and inspired thousands. There are stories of lame people who took their lives and left a bad legacy. Suicide was never a solution, it was a problem. If you think it will end all the problems, you are wrong. Suicide is a big bad problem, therefore it is not desirable at all.