The Suicide Epidemic--My Thoughts on the Newsweek cover story
Tony Dokoupil has done a stunning and necessary piece in Newsweek about how the suicide rates are exploding in the world.
Is it surprising?
To others who do not struggle with depression, mental disorders, or the non-suicidal...of course it is.
To us, the thought of suicide is as normal as thinking about coffee on Monday morning. Suicide is always with us, everyday. It sits in the passenger seat on our way to school or work. It sits beside us at our desks. It's there in our beds waiting for us when we return. You can't escape it.
It's the emergency exit in life when things are not going right.
Today is the day....
In the article, the author asks why Mr. Van Gogh committed suicide. To the suicidal, it was evident. He suffered from bouts of mental illness and anxiety. Of course he did. He was a man that saw the world like no one else did and painted those images. He didn't understand himself like so many others before him and those that would follow in his footsteps.
The article also features others who have committed suicide as well. The families we leave behind continue to search for answers. When they can't find out why, sometimes, they join us. The cycle continues.
It attempts to reason with the why of suicide. But for many, there are differing reasons. It's like attempting to make logic out of the illogical. In the world of suicide, it's like looking into a mirror, only the world you are seeing is backwards.
To the suicidal, it is reasonable. It makes sense. We say, "Why not?"
Living is hard. Death is easier. For those whose minds never cease with never ending thoughts, rambling sentences, worries, depression, anxiety of what is to come is too much for some of us. Death is quiet and irreversible. There are no thoughts. There are no worries.
Nothing is comforting.
Why is suicide on the rise? Because we know that others are doing it. What are we waiting for?
Some of us read the papers, the internet, and the television. Someone else did it the other day.
The voices of the suicides never cease their calling to the rest of us. To join them. That's what the suicidal hear. We look at them with wonder and awe. They had the nerve. We have yet to gain it.
To the suicidal, it is the only answer.
And that's the problem.
When there is nowhere else to turn,
Suicide is the only way out.
This is what we think.
Is it surprising?
To others who do not struggle with depression, mental disorders, or the non-suicidal...of course it is.
To us, the thought of suicide is as normal as thinking about coffee on Monday morning. Suicide is always with us, everyday. It sits in the passenger seat on our way to school or work. It sits beside us at our desks. It's there in our beds waiting for us when we return. You can't escape it.
It's the emergency exit in life when things are not going right.
Today is the day....
In the article, the author asks why Mr. Van Gogh committed suicide. To the suicidal, it was evident. He suffered from bouts of mental illness and anxiety. Of course he did. He was a man that saw the world like no one else did and painted those images. He didn't understand himself like so many others before him and those that would follow in his footsteps.
The article also features others who have committed suicide as well. The families we leave behind continue to search for answers. When they can't find out why, sometimes, they join us. The cycle continues.
It attempts to reason with the why of suicide. But for many, there are differing reasons. It's like attempting to make logic out of the illogical. In the world of suicide, it's like looking into a mirror, only the world you are seeing is backwards.
To the suicidal, it is reasonable. It makes sense. We say, "Why not?"
Living is hard. Death is easier. For those whose minds never cease with never ending thoughts, rambling sentences, worries, depression, anxiety of what is to come is too much for some of us. Death is quiet and irreversible. There are no thoughts. There are no worries.
Nothing is comforting.
Why is suicide on the rise? Because we know that others are doing it. What are we waiting for?
Some of us read the papers, the internet, and the television. Someone else did it the other day.
The voices of the suicides never cease their calling to the rest of us. To join them. That's what the suicidal hear. We look at them with wonder and awe. They had the nerve. We have yet to gain it.
To the suicidal, it is the only answer.
And that's the problem.
When there is nowhere else to turn,
Suicide is the only way out.
This is what we think.
Comments
Post a Comment