Suicide is not an option

Wiston Churchill was invited as a  valedictory speaker at his alma mater and people were astonished when the old man appeared on the scene, guided to the rostrum. And then he uttered a classic that echoed round the world exemplified by how he managed to get to where he was to deliver the  address.

He said  never, never, never,   ’give up and immediately he returned to his seat. Suicide (intentional killing of oneself) is becoming rampant today because of so many reasons. And  one prominent reason  is the inability to handle failure. Others are the compassion to love one who has died; to punish self for something that has created guilt like Judas.

It may be an attempt to escape loneliness, hopelessness, financial pressure, depression, academic or work difficulties; to avoid suffering; to punish survivors who are likely to feel hurt and the guilt. Suicide takes  different forms like drinking insecticide, poisonous food, wearing suicide vest,  bombing, among others. Nigeria is adjudged number one in West Africa in suicide cases and till now, it has no clear programmes or laws to address the trend.

And the level of prevalence among the youths and undergraduates is high. This evidence from the case of a 21-year-old man, Daibo Toju Davies that complained of stomach upset, stopped the Uber driver and jumped into Lagos lagoon on February 15, which no one has been able to ascertain the cause, including the driver. Likewise, Temitope Saka, a 17-year-old girl died after drinking the sniper insecticide, at Igando Area of Lagos State.

That one is passing through unpalatable situation today does not mean such situation will persist  forever. It is disheartening to see people terminating their lives abruptly. Nigerians should have a healthy sense of thinking while going through challenges or seeing their neighbours complaining instead of explaining in a nitwit.

Nigerian government took a laudable action to ban sniper sometime ago, but how effective is ti?  You are not a product of an accidental discharge. That your parents did not plan to have you is not enough justification to write yourself off .

Thomas Edison, acclaimed to be one of the biggest successes of the world, tried about a thousand times before he succeeded in making the electric lamp.

Suicide is irresponsibility to acknowledge God, perversity of the consequences, God is not an intruder! Worry is the interest paid on a loan you have not accessed. Most things we worry about end up not surfacing. History is replete with people who are never reckoned with by circumstances  of birth but rose to prominence. Worry is so demonic as it comes with fears.

Fear is of the devil, it blocks our sense and makes us myopic in the face of daunting challenges, and so faint-hearted ones nothing good coming out of their continued existence,  yet suicide should  not an option.

Orimisan Akinwa,

Ibadan