Through My Eyes

Date: 2014-09-05

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." - Norman Cousins

With the recent spate of prominent suicides I must have my say.

Suicide has touched my life and the pain of loosing a loved one is too traumatic to try to put into words, the void left behind in my heart will stay there forever no matter how much time goes by.

Suicide is a universal tragedy; globally nearly one million people take their lives each year. It is the most disastrous and final attempt at surrender. And that figure is on the rise.

While economic status has not been found to be a predictor in the simple way that social scientists once thought, early suicide researchers theorized that poverty was a significant risk factor for suicide.

The theory was that being poor could make one feel depressed, desperate or ashamed at times. This isn't entirely wrong, but research has shown that both the lowest-low and the highest-high incomes are more strongly associated with rates of suicide than other income levels. In other words, it's the extremes of either poverty or wealth that are associated with higher suicide rates.

Unemploymentis associated with increased rates of suicide. Obviously, people who are unemployed often experience financial stress. In addition, alcohol consumption and marital discord can increase with financial difficulties, which can also increase someone's risk of suicide.

As a society we view suicide as a weakness and so many people refer to suicide victims as cowards but in a country like Japan, from medieval times to the present day, Japanese embroiled in scandal have sometimes chosen to take their own lives as a means of atonement.

People in all societies view the acceptability of suicide through their society's perspective on how stress is experienced, how one responds to demanding situations, and the moral values associated with both life and death.

Clinical depression is an illness, one that can make people make life-terminating decisions. Serious depression doesn't allow for rational thought...suicide sometimes seems the only a way out of their own misery.

Depression is a disease. People tend not to blame cancer for the death of an individual. Nor do they blame the opportunistic pathogen that kills an AIDS afflicted individual. Nor should they blame an individual who commits suicide as a result of depression.

Lets face it, death in itself is every shade of awful, traumatic and confusing and suicide is a permanent solution to what is usually a temporary problem. For most, suicide is a release of a tortured existence. If you can't enjoy life and it's a daily struggle then suicide is a way to deal with it.

Sadly those who have never experienced depression, just don't get it...It's not something you can understand until you've been there. Try as you may, you cannot dismiss the feeling of abandonment when those you love take their own life.

Suicide should not be interpreted on a psychiatric or a cultural perspective, or judged by the clerics but it should be an integrated view of these variables.

If there is one thing that I've learned from life, is that suicidal thoughts are just a fleeting irrational moments. And if you just wait it out, your perspective will change. And everything will look brighter if you just allow the dark thoughts to pass. Remember "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

It was Krishnamurti who wrote, "From pain and suffering comes compassion. That is another name for love". Lets keep compassion in our hearts no matter what anyone wants us to believe.

Springclean

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