TL:DR
"We have constructed pyramids to honor our
escaping"
Jim Morrison
Suicide
Defined as "to
kill oneself”, the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair. As I sit
here this morning, I could have used 1000 words to replace “despair.” Escape,
political or misguided religious expression, even martyrdom to save others. I
suppose, surrounded by an overwhelming enemy and taking the option to jump onto
a thrown grenade is despair. Drinking
the Kool-Aid as everyone around you dies may be despair. Despair, like Suicide,
is a monster that can take many forms.
The last few days
Suicide has filled so many of our minds. Everyone has a view, everyone has a
thought, and everyone proposed a cure. But with nearly a million of us falling to
the release of pain through Suicide each year, maybe we should spend a minute
to consider what is it and how does it reveal itself?
Suicide takes many
shapes. In our spirit individuality, it takes on many forms.
Most of us, through popular media, envision a slashed bloodied wrist, a handful of pills swallowed, the stepping off of a stool of finality as Suicide. It is Suicide, a scream of pain or at least a manifestation of a type of Suicide.
Most of us, through popular media, envision a slashed bloodied wrist, a handful of pills swallowed, the stepping off of a stool of finality as Suicide. It is Suicide, a scream of pain or at least a manifestation of a type of Suicide.
I am afraid
though we experience more subtle Suicide, less immediate instances every day.
It is common. We are surrounded by it. Suicide takes forms that we often
overlook. Suicide is not exclusively depression, although it is a component.
Suicide is frustration. Suicide is a sensation of having no control where we
desire control over our existance. (We have little to no control over our
lives, but we frequently are told we do). Suicide is loneliness. Suicide is
emptiness. Suicide is addiction.
There are many
paths to that final action, that final culminating of life expression.. There
are many ways to commit Suicide.
Watch someone
drink alcohol. Watch them drink to excess, to a stupor, to a temporary
blindness. Watch them drink to a black out. That is Suicide. Remember Suicide
is defined as the act "to kill oneself." And it has so many possibilities. They can
attempt to drive a car, kill themselves, maim another, or destroy their family.
Drugs,
prescription pill abuse, isolation, being a “workaholic”, chronic pain,
hopelessness, eating disorders, even failing to care for their health are all
forms of Suicide. Gambling to excess, to
the point of losing all, to the point of losing family and friends and
possession. To be left alone and inert
without contact. To be removed from life. They are all ways we employ to deaden
the pains we have absorbed in our lives. They are all ways that we build walls
of separation, instill blindness, or to numb the reality we refuse to accept.
Isolate of selves from anything that defines a reality, our existance
Even hate can
manifest as Suicide.
I don’t even have
to address anything about life. We already know that life is the gift we have
been given and what we do with it is our decision. This is no place for me to even attempt to
offer any direction on how you can improve the gift you have been given. I just
felt like saying that there are many forms of Suicide.
It is up to you
to recognize it in others. It is up to you to recognize it in yourself. Rarely
do we have any opportunity to alter the path of another. Ultimately they must
face their own challenges. They must face their own demons to which they have
given birth. We can only face our own reality and change our own course.
In commercial and Social Media, I have only seen the tears of loss, mourning the loss of another through Suicide. I have not seen many recognize the precursors, expressions and forms of Suicide that surround us every day. Someone warned me the other day that hugging someone, maybe trying to replenish the falling spirit by grasping them tightly and pulling them into your self as if to refill the emptiness, may do more harm than good. It may reinforce with them “I am full and you are empty.” I don’t know. I don’t have an answer. But they do leave us to wonder: what could we have done to change their course? Could we have had any impact? Could we have effected any change?
It may be that simple. It may just be a hug. It may be acceptance as simple as talking to a stranger in a café. Some feel it is a chemical imbalance that drives us to a point and that introducing chemicals will provide a viable solution. Or it may have required that an entire reality would have had to be altered. A society, our society, may push the buttons and drive someone to a point where Suicide is the only escape. It may be somewhere in between.
In commercial and Social Media, I have only seen the tears of loss, mourning the loss of another through Suicide. I have not seen many recognize the precursors, expressions and forms of Suicide that surround us every day. Someone warned me the other day that hugging someone, maybe trying to replenish the falling spirit by grasping them tightly and pulling them into your self as if to refill the emptiness, may do more harm than good. It may reinforce with them “I am full and you are empty.” I don’t know. I don’t have an answer. But they do leave us to wonder: what could we have done to change their course? Could we have had any impact? Could we have effected any change?
It may be that simple. It may just be a hug. It may be acceptance as simple as talking to a stranger in a café. Some feel it is a chemical imbalance that drives us to a point and that introducing chemicals will provide a viable solution. Or it may have required that an entire reality would have had to be altered. A society, our society, may push the buttons and drive someone to a point where Suicide is the only escape. It may be somewhere in between.
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