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Suicide: The cry of existence

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Before reaching to this extreme step an individual passes through many tough phases and cries inwardly

Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat

The word suicide has been derived from latin word ‘suicidum’ meaning ‘the act of taking one’s own life’. Thus it can be stated that suicide is intentionally causing one’s own death. Since, ages the trend of suicides has got increased owing to multifaceted reasons. Even, in developing nations this menace is acquiring rapid pace, however during the ongoing covid19 pandemic crisis the rate of suicides has attained an enormous hike.

According to reports of WHO, suicide is considered global phenomena and takes places throughout the life span and is tenth major cause of deaths worldwide. The rate of suicides has gone up to 60% more since1960 upto 2012. Alone, in year 2013 the suicide cases reached globally to 8, 42000. While as there are lakhs of attempted suicide cases reported annually which somehow are prevented. There are varied reasons which lead to this act of ending ones existence and are the last resort to end the cries of existence which remain unheard. From teenage children to old ones, suicide cases are witnessed on regular basis.

The major reasons felt in this agonizing act are depression, traumas, sexual abuse, rapes, poverty, unemployment, anxiety, mental illness etc. But the major reasons which trigger the cases of suicide are more social and personal than other ones.

Social causes, which are the root causes of this painful act are, broken marriages, family disputes, poverty, unemployment, homelessness , failures in academics, harsh treatment of family members, guilt of killings, loss of honour and feeling of loneliness. The chief irony of this matter is that cries of existence before committing the suicide are not heard and felt. Many times before committing a suicide, there is an apparent behavioral changes in an individual, but the same are not addressed and finally the suicide becomes the last resort of that individual.

It is the existence of an individual that matters, and then comes his essence. When family and society gives more focus to essence then existence gets endangered. Emotionally broken down individuals when scolded for their acts of failures adds fuel to the fire. Family members need to handle such individuals more cautiously as well as in a friendly manner.

No doubt, there are different problems which are surrounding in the arena of one’s family, and thus disputes arise and fall. It is natural that wherever there is human existence, there are diverse opinions, tastes, life style, thinking, attitude, aptitude, outlook, likings and disliking.

Even the mental capacities differ, thus giving rise to diverse thinking of the individuals. Controlling, the diverse features and trying to blending them into a whole in one system with uniform thinking and ideas leads to the crisis of existence, which finally attains the shape of a hard bush and indirectly paves the way to end the existence rather to bend ones existence.

As the decision of committing suicide is deliberate and voluntary thus human or technological intervention to gallop this trend is futile and absurd. The chief absurdity of this menace is that society discusses on how the suicide took place and where, but never deliberates or ponders over the causes which lead to this intentional act.

The causes remain silent and unheard and are labeled as taboo and loss of family prestige. Before reaching to this extreme step an individual passes through many tough phases and cries inwardly. These crises are never felt but are triggered more owing to cold response from people around.

People try different ways to end their existence, some of the common things seen include hanging, pesticide consumption, jumping into the river, or jump from the heights. Such is the degree of painful existence that an individual jumps from the heights or takes poison the consequences of which he already knows.

Even in majority of cases there have been traced suicide notes depicting the causes which persuaded him to end the life. The suicide note is not an information or warning but cries of his painful existence that he lived on the planet which remain unheard and never felt in real colors. Rather got aggravated more and more without any solutions.

The issue of suicides is not found only in middle class families but such acts are evidenced even in royal families as well as from developed countries.

In current times film stars too end their existence owing to varied reasons like jealousy and tough competition. Like Robert Clive, the then British governor general of India also committed suicide as he was looked down by his colleagues owing to his much pension and rich wealth.

In present covid19 crisis the graph of suicides in India has tremendously increased, and there have been hundreds of suicide cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

It is high time that this disaster needs to be galloped by taking strong measures. Here, the role of family in checking this evil is paramount as they are people who know the individual members well. Then comes the role of government agencies.

Society in particular needs to look into such matters with higher degree of precision and empathy and bring forth the likely causes which lead to such acts. Educational institutions can play a pivotal role in arresting these heart wrenching acts as they can rekindle faith, love, trust and confidence in such traumatized souls.

The behavioral changes need to be addressed much earlier before such acts come into play. Curriculum of educational institutions needs to be modified at par with present needs of the society in this context government needs to introduce ethics as a separate subject for teaching.

Moreover, parents need to counsel their wards repeatedly and share moments of peace and tranquility with them. Hobbies of their wards need to be accomplished without considering it to be the wastage of time. And much more to this, children need to learn the divine scriptures of their religions and make them to practically imbibe the things as they begin to differentiate between vice and virtue in their early age, thus having a long lasting impact on their lives.

Government also needs to implement the laws associated with selling of pesticides to minors which attract heavy penalty. Religious preachers, have to also play their role in eradicating this evil off the society. They can counsel and advice the general masses to concentrate on such burning cases and address the emotional issues of their members especially of women folk and teen agers on priority bases and with utmost dedication and honesty.

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