A Final Step in Search of Meaning of Life?
By: Richard (September 18th, 2009)
A 25 year old girl, from my neighborhood committed suicide last week. It was very painful for me to believe it since I had a daily interaction with that family. How can one become so hard and end the life? Many people in the world today end their lives without knowing the meaning of life. Everyday looking at news papers, we come across at least two to three instances of suicides.
Do you agree with those people who are in severe distress and mental disorder and believe that “suicide” is the final step of life? How does suicide make difference in someone’s life or human society? No difference at all, because it is an impractical solution. Agony of unnatural death always impacts badly on a family but without any solution and with numbers of questions.
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about one million people commit suicide every year. Every 40 seconds, the loss of a person who killed themselves shatters the lives of family and friends. For every person who completes a suicide, 20 or more may attempt suicide. For family and friends affected by suicide or attempted suicide, the emotional impact can last for many years. WHO expects the number to climb to about 1.5 million by 2020.
Life is not cheap. Today many problems would have been solved, if suicide was the only solution to the problems. If we can observe in today’s time, the process of socialization (family, neighborhood, peer group, education system, media and political influence) has greatly impacted and has played an important role in pushing the suicide rate up. Life style of family has changed, almost has become materialistic. Relations with neighbourhood have become very formal. The level of comparison among peer groups increased. Children learn about competition rather than values and principles through education. Media has captured young minds and has changed belief system in the society while the politically system has not control over it.
Although traditionally suicide rates have been highest among the male elderly, rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of countries, in both developed and developing countries. India alone contributes to more than 10% of suicides in the world. The suicide rate in India has been increasing steadily and has reached 10.5 (per 100,000 of population) in 2006 registering a 67% increase over the value of 1980. Majority of suicides occur among men and in younger age groups.
The main factor among all the factors is generating imbalance in life. Human society today is becoming very individualistic. Parents-child, husband-wife, employer-employee, neighborhood relations have become so complex and conditional. We are lacking role models. Yes suicide is not the answer. Only one life is here on the earth, and then there is nothing left on this earth. I have learnt in my life that life is the precious gift from God. One day we have to be answerable “how we used the precious gift given by God?”
Tags: , life, meaning of life, Suicide
September 18th, 2009 at 10:10 am
People sometimes also undertake this grotesque step, because they beleive that they’ll have a better second life…the irony is “even if I consider that theirs a second life, will they be able to enjoy it, ‘coz they’ll not remember their past life”. A similar incident happened whena gril from NID commited suicide and she mentioned in her letter that “in the next life she”ll fulfill her parents dreams”
September 18th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
nothing much to say, but i agree with santosh, it true that people believe in hope that is not based on the truth.