Let's talk suicide

Has any of you ever thought of committing suicide? Our Indian friend asked, while he was driving my flatmates and I round town on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Not sure of what we heard, my Ugandan flatie and I gave each-other the puzzled look and just continued talking.

Then he asked again, this time we heard clearly and we all chorused "No" and the Ugandan asked, what about you?.

He smiled and said 3 times, "I have tried".

My jaw dropped and I quickly discarded my phone, amebo antennae adjusted to hear the gist. He did not go into details but just told us that the last time he  tried was because the girl he loved was getting married to another man. His family and the girl's family had rejected the union. They found another guy for her, so she is getting married soon. 

Suicide is not a new thing to Indians, especially love suicide, a friend who lived in Chandigarh said there is a lake in the city where lovers who are not allowed to marry their true love jump into to end their lives. Last year, there was gist of some girl working with the company who had set herself on fire. Exact reason for killing herself was not really known, some said it was love suicide, some said she was in support of the Telangana issue (creation of a new state for some parts of Andhra Pradesh). I expressed my shock and everyone gave me the look of it is normal, nothing unusual. I was told the story of a guy, who had just joined the company  some years back. He did not like the project he was assigned to, I am guessing, it is a domestic project. He felt the project was not up to mark and since no one was willing to change his project , he jumped from the 10th floor of the office building. 

Recently there was the news of the Tibetan protester who set himself on ablaze in New Delhi to protest against the visit of the Chinese President's visit to India. Unfortunately, the dude is not dead, but has to live with pains of the severe burns he inflicted on himself. 

There was also the Taiwanese lady who killed herself by inhaling poisonous fumes while chatting with friends of Facebook and none of them alerted the authorities.

There are those really happy people, who you never imagined would be having any problems and the next day, you hear the news...she killed herself, He jumped off the building.

According to the Indian guy, Indians are generally emotionally weak, they do not know how to deal with pain or affliction. And those who set them selves on fire or kill themselves for a cause, hope to become immortalised...they hope to be remembered as martyrs who died for what they all believe in. 

Suicide is surprisingly on the increase in Nigeria...Nigerians are ones who pride themselves in their endurance ability. I mean, we endure a lot of pains, calamities and sufferings (I still believe there are nations which suffer more calamities)...we are never one to give up the struggle. We are the hustlers and ever struggling people and amidst all these pains we are ever smiling and grateful for life. Nowadays we hear stories of people jumping into the lagoon, killing others, then killing themselves. I once read of the guy who cut off his penis with the hope to die, dude ended up not dying and will spend the rest of his life without a penis. 

Now we have suicide bombers in Nigeria, those who are dying for extremely stupid causes, they have been brain washed into believing they are fighting Allah's cause, that Allah will grant them Al-Jannah for killing innocent lives. I really don't even know where to begin with these set of people. I can't even begin to imagine the darkness in their hearts and how they can believe they are doing good and fighting Allah's cause by killing  other people.

Someone once posted on twitter that we as human beings cannot deny having thoughts of suicide once in a while, this I argued with him about but he said I am living in denial. 

I am not one to judge, but once in a while when I hear some suicide stories, I just can't help but roll my eyes and be like what the hell were you thinking. Some people justify their suicide and when you read or hear about them you can't help but feel sorry or pity for such victims. 

I can only speak for myself, I hate pain, I do all my best to avoid pain, so I cannot imagine wanting to end my life. Emotionally I am weak, but never weak to the point of considering suicide. My friends say my heart is made of stone, that is why I do not display emotions. I would not say I am not an emotional one, but I am very good at repressing my emotions, which a lot of people say is bad for me. 

I know it is a sad world, really sad world...but since we are all going to die someday why put an end to it by yourself (my 2cents, you don't have to agree).

♥ Lara  from Incredible India