Suicide: A Last Resort?
By the time you would have finished reading this article, at least six people would have committed suicide in some corner of the world. On the global scale, over one million people die by suicide—the act of taking one’s own life, and each year and on average, one person commits suicide every 40 seconds. The rate at which people commit suicide worldwide is ever increasing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that by the year 2020, the rate will increase to one person dying in every 20 seconds. These statistics reflect similar figures on the national level as well. In Ghana, about 1500 cases of suicide are recorded annually. An average of five Ghanaians die of suicide every day. And these figures are only those of reported cases. Only God knows how many more of these suicide cases are covered up by families and regarded as deaths caused by illness.
From the three party supporters who killed themselves after the former president, John Dramani Mahama, lost the elections last year to the recent case of the first year Chemical Engineering student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) who hanged herself for supposedly failing in her exams, people commit suicide for myriad reasons. The primary cause of suicide, however, is depression: depression resulting from poverty, failure, disgrace, work pressure, relationship issues etc. Sometimes, people try to justify this act of taking their own lives and try to find reason to it but I just can’t bring myself to understand why anyone would commit such an act. You hear people say stuffs like “It is no fault of his” or “I don’t blame her for doing it” whenever issues relating to this topic are raised and sometimes I sit down and try to make sense out of it but I just can’t fathom.
We claim to be people with intellect, yet act as though we are bereft of any conscience. I might sound a trifle rude or callous when I say these things but trust me, I don’t mean to. The thing is, it doesn’t sit right with me. And if you give it much thought, you might see it from my perspective too. The question I ask is that, do the problems you face, or the hardships you encounter; regardless of how severe or extreme they are, give you enough reason to just give up on life? Are those situations or ordeals worth giving up your life for? I don’t think so. There is no justification whatsoever for committing suicide. It is one of those events you don’t get a second shot at. It is morally and legally wrong, without thinking twice!
In my opinion, it is just as bad as murder. I don’t know about other religions but I do know that my religion forbids suicide, and I’m pretty sure other religions do too. Allah says in Quran 4:29: “… And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.” So no matter what you’re going through, suicide should never be an option–not even as a last resort!
It is a natural phenomenon that sometimes the thought of giving up on life flashes through our minds. It totally is. But considering it (i.e. giving up on life) as an option, for even a second, is where the problem lies. That’s absolutely not natural, hence you have to do away with such thoughts. So how do you do away with such suicidal thoughts?
Well, first of all you need to realize that life is an unending succession of moments. At the two extremes are joyful moments that make our hearts soar and dark moments that plunge us into sadness and worry or even despair. Happiness and sadness are part of every human’s life and when we lose control over our emotions we can easily fall into despair, and that causes us to have certain dangerous and wild thoughts. Despair is that feeling we get when we feel all hope is lost. You need to realize that irrespective of the ordeals or hardships you’re encountering, there’s someone somewhere on this planet who has been through similar situations or even worse and has pulled through or still lives on. Thus, all hope isn’t lost.
Do not think that you’re the only one going through such ordeals: there are probably a million people out there who are in situations akin to yours, but who keep on and have hope. The best mechanism of doing away with these thoughts and overcoming despair is to seek relief from God. Never despair of God’s mercy. No matter how deep you think your problem has gotten, or how caught up you are in it, always seek help from God. He is always with us and He isn’t unaware of what we are going through or experiencing. Seek help from Him and he will suffice you.
Suicide is a menace to every society and does not only affect victims of it but the community and the nation as well. It destroys more than just the life that has been taken. It leaves indelible scars on the hearts of families, friends, colleagues, and the entire community. Loved ones have to live through an excruciatingly painful experience of having to endure the loss of their beloved and having to live with many unpleasant feelings as self-doubt, guilt, or even the fear of being susceptible to the same feelings of depression and these usually impede progress. And sometimes, it is not enough that these individuals take their own lives, but then they take the lives of other people (homicide) before actually killing themselves. Why they indeed do it, we may never truly know. We do know however that these acts are nothing short of extreme forms of aberrant behaviours and we should sensitize and support each other in overcoming this menace.
Hafiz Yakubu
By the time you would have finished reading this article, at least six people would have committed suicide in some corner of the world. On the global scale, over one million people die by suicide—the act of taking one’s own life, and each year and on average, one person commits suicide every 40 seconds. The rate at which people commit suicide worldwide is ever increasing. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that by the year 2020, the rate will increase to one person dying in every 20 seconds. These statistics reflect similar figures on the national level as well. In Ghana, about 1500 cases of suicide are recorded annually. An average of five Ghanaians die of suicide every day. And these figures are only those of reported cases. Only God knows how many more of these suicide cases are covered up by families and regarded as deaths caused by illness.
From the three party supporters who killed themselves after the former president, John Dramani Mahama, lost the elections last year to the recent case of the first year Chemical Engineering student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) who hanged herself for supposedly failing in her exams, people commit suicide for myriad reasons. The primary cause of suicide, however, is depression: depression resulting from poverty, failure, disgrace, work pressure, relationship issues etc. Sometimes, people try to justify this act of taking their own lives and try to find reason to it but I just can’t bring myself to understand why anyone would commit such an act. You hear people say stuffs like “It is no fault of his” or “I don’t blame her for doing it” whenever issues relating to this topic are raised and sometimes I sit down and try to make sense out of it but I just can’t fathom.
We claim to be people with intellect, yet act as though we are bereft of any conscience. I might sound a trifle rude or callous when I say these things but trust me, I don’t mean to. The thing is, it doesn’t sit right with me. And if you give it much thought, you might see it from my perspective too. The question I ask is that, do the problems you face, or the hardships you encounter; regardless of how severe or extreme they are, give you enough reason to just give up on life? Are those situations or ordeals worth giving up your life for? I don’t think so. There is no justification whatsoever for committing suicide. It is one of those events you don’t get a second shot at. It is morally and legally wrong, without thinking twice!
In my opinion, it is just as bad as murder. I don’t know about other religions but I do know that my religion forbids suicide, and I’m pretty sure other religions do too. Allah says in Quran 4:29: “… And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.” So no matter what you’re going through, suicide should never be an option–not even as a last resort!
It is a natural phenomenon that sometimes the thought of giving up on life flashes through our minds. It totally is. But considering it (i.e. giving up on life) as an option, for even a second, is where the problem lies. That’s absolutely not natural, hence you have to do away with such thoughts. So how do you do away with such suicidal thoughts?
Well, first of all you need to realize that life is an unending succession of moments. At the two extremes are joyful moments that make our hearts soar and dark moments that plunge us into sadness and worry or even despair. Happiness and sadness are part of every human’s life and when we lose control over our emotions we can easily fall into despair, and that causes us to have certain dangerous and wild thoughts. Despair is that feeling we get when we feel all hope is lost. You need to realize that irrespective of the ordeals or hardships you’re encountering, there’s someone somewhere on this planet who has been through similar situations or even worse and has pulled through or still lives on. Thus, all hope isn’t lost.
Do not think that you’re the only one going through such ordeals: there are probably a million people out there who are in situations akin to yours, but who keep on and have hope. The best mechanism of doing away with these thoughts and overcoming despair is to seek relief from God. Never despair of God’s mercy. No matter how deep you think your problem has gotten, or how caught up you are in it, always seek help from God. He is always with us and He isn’t unaware of what we are going through or experiencing. Seek help from Him and he will suffice you.
Suicide is a menace to every society and does not only affect victims of it but the community and the nation as well. It destroys more than just the life that has been taken. It leaves indelible scars on the hearts of families, friends, colleagues, and the entire community. Loved ones have to live through an excruciatingly painful experience of having to endure the loss of their beloved and having to live with many unpleasant feelings as self-doubt, guilt, or even the fear of being susceptible to the same feelings of depression and these usually impede progress. And sometimes, it is not enough that these individuals take their own lives, but then they take the lives of other people (homicide) before actually killing themselves. Why they indeed do it, we may never truly know. We do know however that these acts are nothing short of extreme forms of aberrant behaviours and we should sensitize and support each other in overcoming this menace.
Hafiz Yakubu
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