Before you Commit Suicide

Suicide has been a hot topic this month. It is not because of escalating suicide cases but because the global family has deliberately paused to create awareness and look deeper into this issue. To put it in a simpler way, the month of September has been dedicated to convincing people to hold onto life a little longer.

Before we go on, I want to have this article’s underpinning statement, a punchline from a piece of an article published on the Cleaver of Truth on September 10th, the World’s Suicide Prevention Day. In the article, ‘No to Suicide; But do we Mean it?’, this statement caught my attention:

Those who commit suicide do not do so because they love death but because something pushes them to the extent that death is seen as a small thing.

Death which everyone is afraid of and which we keep at bay by hanging on life support becomes de minimis, and we don’t reduce the speed in the running away from death. Instead, we became the agents of death ourselves.

I’m not sure if there is anyone who qualifies to commit suicide. I’m even struggling to come to terms with Euthanasia, but that is a debate for another day. Life is not easy. It can be well summarized by a cheap by-word circulating the social media, “earth is hard.” It demands more from us to remain competent in our academic, parental, matrimonial, employment, and interpersonal commitments. All these require a lesson that most of us are slow to learn and ready to forget—resilience and patience. Our failure to contain all these plus the day-to-day unpleasant doses of life moves some of us to seek an exit plan, and death is seen as a cheaper way out.

It could be, as you read this article, you are thinking of committing suicide. You have all the materials together. You have safely deposited your parting shot in the mail to whoever cares to read it when you shall have been a relic of the past. Would you be kind enough to just listen to me for a little while? I promise it is going to be a short one. Before you carry out that final, irrevocable mission, would you pause and consider the following?

Who is going to benefit from your death?

It is unfortunate you have settled on death. But who is going to benefit from the news that you were found hanging on a rope with your tongue stretching out like a slim pink tie? Who is going to celebrate that you are gone? The family that may seem not to care to listen to your predicament could be in a worse situation than you are, and to their agonies, you want to add news of doom? They will never understand that you could not share it out. Don’t wait for them to ask what is happening to you. Talk it out even if they don’t listen. It is therapeutic speaking out about what is burdening your soul. The truth is that someone must be hurt when you are gone too soon. It may not be your family because you have been the family’s black sheep; it may not be your friends because they don’t see anything good in you anymore, but someone you don’t know will be worried about the statistics. We need you still.

Is your case the worst?

And again, have you gone out of your way to find out what is happening around you? Those who don’t travel think their mom is the best cook, and it is the same with those who don’t seek to find out facts. You may think your case is worse because you are locked in your closet. The fact is that someone else would smile when given your situation. This is not a trick to water down your pain but just tells you an absolute reality of life as it is. Things are not as smooth, and no one has it all. Times are tough; the streets are not friendly. You don’t have as much money as you may need; thank God for the good health. You don’t have tuition money, be grateful you have the brains. Without leaning on the weak wall of megalomania, think through what makes you special. Refuse to be pushed down by the unpleasant droplets here and there. Don’t see yourself through the lens of your lamentations.

Have you tried out all the possible options?

Finally, I would like to know what you have done before the verdict of doom. Have you tried out all the possible solutions and failed? One similarity among people who have committed what you are contemplating right now is that they lie down and die as soon as trouble comes their way. As soon as they see the text, ‘it is over,’ they begin conducting their own funeral program. If you are determined to try out all the possible solutions, you will get a way out before trying fifty percent of the possible options. You can’t afford to give up after knocking on the first door. Don’t be a one-idea-man. Have plans and backup plans. Humans are endowed with a high capacity to withstand the pressures of life, and our creativity employed aright can help us navigate through all tides and typhoons of life. Please don’t give up too soon!

Death is one thing we cannot evade, as long we carry seeds of death in our beings. But we can die honorably. Let death catch us actively involved in something meant to make the world a better place. Let death find us very busy trying to find another solution to the groanings of the human race. If we must die, let it be said that we died trying, that we clung on life support to delay our sunset, than that we engineered our own massacre.

It is cowardice to run away from tough times through the escape route of suicide.