The True Problem
Politics ... politics ...
Just when I think every concern has been solved - or at least addressed - new ones pop up and old ones develop new sub-concerns.
The accessibility of medicine for the elderly
The effects of global warming on remote jungle species
The broad ignorance about AIDS
The prevalence of war and military aggression in video games
But the truth is there is a sickness killing far more people than poor health care, global warming, AIDS, or war. Whatever your view on Iraq is, this disease has killed more people than all the wars in history combined. It has killed more people than all the murders combined. It has killed more people than global warming ever will. This sickness is far more serious than any issue I see touted in the news, and yet no one ever talks about it.
And, of course, these people cannot be counted, recorded, or estimated in any statistic. It is hard enough for a person to be honest with another, let alone the task of being honest with oneself. For this reason a poll cannot convey even a glimpse of the magnitude of this problem.
Growing numbers of people are conscious of their despair, but how can this compare to the number of people who are unconscious of their despair?
Politicians often tell us what a burden it is to be poor, to breath dirty air, and to live in a high-crime area. And these things are burdens. But what a burden to hate one's own life!
Unfortunately no politician has offered any consolation to solve or even approach this problem.
As an example of the inability of politics to address this issue, I submit that the biggest governments are the ones with the highest suicide rates. The socialist governments of Europe have much higher suicide rates than the countries with smaller governments.
There is almost nothing the government can do to make a person's life worth living. Yet when the individual looks at his or her choices and decides to make changes, all things can become new.
The solution is this: to stop living to have a valuable life in the eyes of the public, to stop longing to be other people, to stop controlling other people as a substitute for controlling oneself.
Just when I think every concern has been solved - or at least addressed - new ones pop up and old ones develop new sub-concerns.
The accessibility of medicine for the elderly
The effects of global warming on remote jungle species
The broad ignorance about AIDS
The prevalence of war and military aggression in video games
But the truth is there is a sickness killing far more people than poor health care, global warming, AIDS, or war. Whatever your view on Iraq is, this disease has killed more people than all the wars in history combined. It has killed more people than all the murders combined. It has killed more people than global warming ever will. This sickness is far more serious than any issue I see touted in the news, and yet no one ever talks about it.
The sickness I am referring to is suicide. So far, the statistics I have mentioned are uncontested and not difficult to verify, but they are merely the tip of the iceberg. Camus once noted that people often put on masks, but suicide is a confession: a confession that their life was not worth living. Yet there are many who hate their lives silently without making such a confession. |  |
And, of course, these people cannot be counted, recorded, or estimated in any statistic. It is hard enough for a person to be honest with another, let alone the task of being honest with oneself. For this reason a poll cannot convey even a glimpse of the magnitude of this problem.
Growing numbers of people are conscious of their despair, but how can this compare to the number of people who are unconscious of their despair?
Politicians often tell us what a burden it is to be poor, to breath dirty air, and to live in a high-crime area. And these things are burdens. But what a burden to hate one's own life!
Unfortunately no politician has offered any consolation to solve or even approach this problem.
As an example of the inability of politics to address this issue, I submit that the biggest governments are the ones with the highest suicide rates. The socialist governments of Europe have much higher suicide rates than the countries with smaller governments.
There is almost nothing the government can do to make a person's life worth living. Yet when the individual looks at his or her choices and decides to make changes, all things can become new.
The solution is this: to stop living to have a valuable life in the eyes of the public, to stop longing to be other people, to stop controlling other people as a substitute for controlling oneself.
Labels: Death, The System
3 Comments:
Good post BB and one issue that rarely ever gets mentioned in any blog cirlces (or churches for that matter). You're right that politics cannot solve the problem of suicide - they really only pander to larger societal needs. But knowing the problem is half the battle - the other half is building support groups for those 'who hate life' so they can air some of that and maybe even find an answer to their problems (whether physical, emotional, spiritual, or intellectual). We can't help everyone (I think) but I think if we see someone (personally) taking this agenda of suicide seriously - best we be involved in some way.
Thanks, societyvs.
You may be onto something regarding the support group ... provided the people in the group care about the one who has lost his will to live. But how does one give another person the will to live?
I think a lot about that and I can't say I have a definite solution. At some point I think God must come down out of heaven and dwell inside a person.
My intuition about suicide is that it is the result of living by other people's priorities in order to gain the favor of other people ... and then the person becomes conscious that they do not value their own life.
If a support group is able to bring a person to confront their inner longings and the whole thing is not a masquerade to gain noteriety in each other's eyes, I suppose they would be able to address the problem of suicide.
"You may be onto something regarding the support group ... provided the people in the group care about the one who has lost his will to live. But how does one give another person the will to live?" (BB)
I have seen the depressed and I have been lonely - I have seen that lonliness is the actual killer in these situation - which then turns into self-pity and manifests into the feeling 'no one cares - so why should you?'. I think suicide is quite an easy process to get too - just cut yourself off from others - namely those you think that love you - and it burns!
But if the person that is suicidal see's that he/she is accepted and God forbid - loved - things do turn around and this person just may have found community - you'd be amazed at how many people that attend church stayed because of community and sense of home-ness. Hell, I even tried to kill myself as a teenager - but I was young, dumb, and let situations define me - but it was because of a direct link to lonliness or abandonment by the one's I loved. So there is a way to help slow down suicide - maybe get them to a place like 'Cheers' - where everyone knows their name.
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