By Sahil Khan:
Fear plays a key role in twenty-first-century consciousness. Increasingly, we seem to engage with various issues through fear. You could see this tendency emerging and taking hold in the last century, which was frequently described as an ‘Age of Anxiety‘. In last few decades, this drift has transformed into the age of depression and suicides.
The recent death of Pratyusha Banerjee has forced us to rethink the reality of today’s world and has asked us the question which is frequently raised by every poor soul before it is forced to take that final step – “Why am I being ‘judged’?” According to me, this word is the biggest enemy of the human soul; it can finish anyone’s self-respect, hope and even the desire to live.
The biggest fear existing today is this fear of being judged. But from where does this word arise why has the tendency to ‘judge’ grown so much?
We all know the answer. Fear is entirely a creation of human society, the society in which we live and are a part of. It is what compels every young soul that chooses to end his/her life just for not scoring well in exams; it is responsible for every death based on discrimination and even responsible for the deaths of many rape ‘victims’ in this country.
Do we even know that one of the top reasons for committing suicide is not getting help even when a person is crying out for help, and the inability to know how else to get it? These people don’t usually want to die but do intend to tell those around them that something is seriously wrong. They often don’t believe they will die, frequently choosing methods they don’t think can kill them in order to strike out at someone who’s hurt them. But they are sometimes tragically misinformed. The prototypical example of this was that of one of my close friends, a young teenage girl who, because of a failed relationship with her parents, swallowed a bottle of Tylenol. She did not realise that high enough doses Tylenol can cause irreversible damage to the liver.
I’ve watched more than one teenager die a horrible death in an ICU days after taking such a step, when remorse has already cured them of their desire to die, and their true goal of alerting those close to them of their distress has been achieved.
Why don’t we change this question and understand that we all know there is no point in judging people? Why do we even do so? Why can’t we just live our lives and allow others to live theirs?
Please people, it’s a busy world, and we all have a number of responsibilities to fulfil, amazing things to experience and a number of people to help. Let’s divert our energy towards saving lives instead being responsible for the end of one.
It’s my request to every reader out there. Please stop judging people. Stop being responsible for someone’s decision to take that final fateful step and stop being judgemental. Please remember the injuries left in the lives of those left behind by a death are often deep and long lasting. The apparent meaninglessness of suicide often fuels the pain.