Suicide: Self-Destruction Is Not The Solution

Suicide, one of the extreme steps to end one’s own life, is unfortunately not a shocking phenomenon for us. We are used to witnessing a tremendous increase of geometrical proportions in the self-destructive acts of suicide throughout the world with staggering 8,000,000 plus cases each year. It is a normal global phenomenon now. The ever-increasing statistical numbers have made us numb.

No place, whether modern society filled with all ease and facilities at its disposal or that traditional type of closed societies, is immune to the suicidal tendencies or attempts of committing this heinous act of self-annihilation. Suicide doesn’t discriminate and can touch anyone, anywhere at any time. The reasons for this vile act vary from person to person but the chief reason is to end life’s varied types of anxieties, problems, failures, and hopelessness that grew over a period of time.

For a large section of our society, especially our younger generation, suicide works as an alternative one-time solution for all types of what they call failures. The present position is of oblivious nature that our society has eagerly espoused to these heart-wrenching occurrences to an alarming level and has very much accepted the hard realities behind them as normal things. So people commit suicide normally without any second thoughts now. 

The origin or the starting point which leads the way to this point can be mental or physical abuse, depression, drug use disorder, family violence, sexual abuse, stressful life events, relationship problems etc. If we take an example of a family where a child gets fewer percentages or lesser grades than his/her peers at school or somehow he/she couldn’t finish all the subjects in one go, our outright criticism germinates the primary level of disappointment or hopelessness which is amplified with further failures or errors on his/her part.

This leads to a degree of mental abuse against his/her unsuccessful ways and acts, so he/she turns to cure this psychological fire and finds an ultimate solution for all these troubles to end his or her life. This is a straightforward example regarding the competition which we people have created around us without noticing the consequences behind our actions. We never mind our behavior against these vulnerable souls and keep acting like gadflies always criticizing.

There is no age bar to resort to this deadly act. Suicide takes into its grip all the age groups vulnerable to the high level of depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorders etc. The birth of various and stressful social evils expands the canvas of suicide all over the world. South Asian countries are in particular beset with unique types of social evils like dowry, harassment, unwanted competitions, domestic violence, rape, and molestations which play a significant role in strengthening the roots of a distressful life in a cavernous way.

People find it difficult even to live their basic life. A complete disorder prevails in the deep down pockets of the populations that trigger suicidal impulses among the vulnerable masses to a dangerous level. Wealth when distributed unevenly creates a heartbreaking upper-lower dichotomy that contributes to alienation, leading to fatal results one way or the other.

The political uncertainties vexed with the growing financial problems are in fact the leading contributory factors that help create chaos in the lives in all lands now. People are no more satisfied even with the basic requirements. Peace of mind is has become a luxury now. So there is no time to realize the higher meanings of life and be stuck to one’s life span regardless of the situation. Hence, suicide is becoming the choicest way to stop further dragging in life.

No day goes by when we don’t witness the growing numbers of suicidal rates. Our newspapers, magazines, tv news etc. make us see the heart-wrenching suicidal cases on a daily basis. We are so much used to this evil now and have closed the chapter of finding the solutions that would matter and save the unnecessary wastage of human lives. We no longer pay attention to why our youth, both males and females, end their lives without any traces left. 

The question arises: is it permissible on any account that we should end our life only because we don’t get what we tried or hoped as per our plan? Isn’t it a foolish and outlandish act to give our precious life for the trash things whatsoever that be? Life is full of miracles. We must look for the stars if the candles in our lives have extinguished momentarily.

Why lose our hope if something is not happening as per our plan? Try again. If again we face failure, then switching to other ways and means is the way out but don’t stop and die. And, we must know that whatever happens, happens for good. If one of our small ways is blocked, our destiny is planning us for highways and bigger projects of life. If nobody listens to us, at least listen to those subtle voices that lie beneath our soul. We have to make an effort to listen to them and converse with ourselves about the myriad questions of life. We are our leader, teacher, and pupil. There are a lot of ways to shed our worries and problems.

The first and foremost way is to connect to our God/Origin/Beginning and seek the perennial light for our knots in the soul. This act of introspection to our origin will build us up both physically and spiritually. Then proceed to write. Our pen will translate our worries and problems on paper. Writing our problems every day along with our strengths and achievements will unburden our heavy hearts to a great extent. Finding solutions becomes easy then onwards. Mere sticking to our motionless behavior will damage us physically as well as psychologically. 

Meanwhile, every mainstream religion in the world has strict admonitions against suicide. Suicide is regarded as a quite negative option even after everything is lost in the journey of life. Almost in all the religious scriptures of Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and in almost all other spiritual affiliations, we find ample warnings against doing suicide. This is because the process of life and death has been planned as per the divine scheme and any fiddling with this Godly act is our direct attempt to block the divine justice governing all affairs of the world.

We kill the whole of humanity when we commit suicide or create a vile situation for others to do the same. A suicidal act surely ends the life of the one who commits it but he/she leaves an army of groaning souls behind. The loved ones in the family along with the close associates, friends, and well-wishers get wounds with conflicting emotions and pains for the rest of their life. So we resort to a sin detested by everyone from man to God. 

Now the people must bear the responsibility to save humanity from this scourge. We are duty-bound to create positive vibes in our daily lives so that people can feel peace in these volatile situations. Our one word of affection can save a soul from the death trap. We must come to help him/her out from the extremes of life.

Good counseling will also help the one who loses hope. If the people around us seem disturbed or stressed about their life, we must always forward our helping hands to rescue them. Our words can surely heal up their problems in one or other ways. Man is the vicegerent on the earth, let’s begin to introduce this original identity/definition to the people who are on the cliff waiting to jump down.  

Let’s shed all worries and live the life which God has granted us for few calculable days. We must surrender our will to God’s planning if we don’t find the way out. His is a great churning and all the beauties and uglinesses get ordered in our best interests ultimately. The worries and sorrows don’t last long. They have to go. With every hardship, comes ease, says the Holy Quran.

What we need to do is to be patient in all volatile situations in life. Mercy is the most preponderant law governing the length and breadth of the universe. Let’s try to see the stars in the darkest hours of life. Then again, the problems and any set of worries happening at any stage of life don’t come randomly. They are chosen to test us and make us see the other aspects we would neglect otherwise. They arrive to build us stronger by each moment and prepare us for the greater fields of life and the afterlife.  

I am concluding this humble piece with the hope of living this mortal life at all costs. Life is wonderful. Living it in all situations is both wonderful and rewarding. The absurdity we face is the chance to look at life afresh. Don’t lose the higher meanings of life and the transcendental grounding we have been come down from. Human life is after all the best creation in God’s Plan. It has been planned on a perfect, charming, and beautiful praxis.

We have a divine meaning in us and in our brief halt on this earth. Do not rush to death. Live! Let the stress pass. A new beginning is waiting for us. The poet of the East, Allama Muhammad Iqbal (r.a), has made us see life beyond all mundane levels and closed frames manufactured in our societies. He addresses in these eternal lines thus:

Bar tar az andesha’ay sood-o-ziyan hai zindagi
Hai kabi jaan aur kabi tasleem-e-jaan hai zindagi

Tu issey pemana’ay imroz-o-farda se na naap
Javidaan, peham dawaan, har dam jawaan hai zindagi

(Life is higher than the calculation of profit and loss; Life is sometimes living and sometimes forfeiting living.
Do not measure it by the scale of today and tomorrow; Life is eternal, constantly moving, at every moment youthful).