Suicide, a spreading disease

Life is tough in this part of the world and as years go by, some people find it difficult to face the challenges spanning social, economic and cultural aspects of human life. There are daily reports of individuals who couldn’t carry on the task of living and chose to terminate their lives, leaving behind their beloved ones to mourn their avoidable demise. Many people who are full of life and seem to have great prospects, at least from their appearances and pursuits, after reaching conclusions which can be disputed, often choose to bow to the pressure and take their leave from the world.

The possibility of committing suicide isn’t written on their faces as they only put down their reasons on paper and later take the painful path to snuff out their own lives. Their reasons usually vary from frustration, depression, disappointment and failure to actualise set goals. They hardly think of people they will leave behind in sorrow.

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The menace of suicide continues to gain momentum and is fast becoming the popular measure to escape the ugly side of the world. Increase in suicide can be linked to social media posts that give the impression everyone is living a perfect life except the person seeing the posts; you hardly find subscribers putting their weaknesses or failures on social media platforms. And when they compare what they see online with their lives, they get frustrated and look for other ways out of their woes.

They hardly consider the fact that the flood of posts and pictures online can be fake. When legal ways have been exhausted with no glimmer of hope, they take the ignoble path.

Also, basic trust which should be an exclusive feature of human race is lost. People bottle up their feelings; suicide notes often contain how much they have hidden and the inability to share feelings lead many to suicide.

At a time like this, people have to be closer to one another. It’s been observed that frustrated people announce their intents online. They make threats and make good of them to the surprise of family members and friends who only chide the intending victims to stop making expensive jokes.

Government should create awareness on this menace. People need to know that problems can’t last forever.

Timothy Faboade,

Ondo State.