Dear society,
When someone commits suicide, people say that the person shouldn’t have done so – after all, suicide is not the only option.
I agree that it is not the only option. But it is definitely one of the many options available to us. And I am shocked at the ease with which we have become blind and deaf to the cause and consequences of choosing this particular option. Every year, every month, every hour, we are losing people. And all we manage to say is that the person who ended their life should have thought otherwise.
By other ‘options’, what do we really mean? Do we mean continuing to live amidst humans who are too unkind to even pass a smile when you look at them? Do we mean putting on a fake smile and pretending to laugh because this world refuses to accept us for who we really are? Do we mean walking on the street alone on a dark night because people refuse to cross lanes with you? Do we mean working at a shitty job because people made us believe that earning a lot of money is more important than pursuing our passion? Do we mean posting pictures on social media of ‘happy moments’ that never really existed? Do we mean trying to change our dressing style because people body-shame us?
Do we talk about being in a toxic relationship, where lovers are more concerned about false commitments than the raw truth? Do we talk about not sleeping the whole night and wetting the pillow because it is the only friend left to share one’s tears and sorrows with? Do we talk about smudging our dark circles and scars with a lot of concealers? Do we talk about hiding our love interests from a society which is oblivious to diverse sexualities?
Which of the above options do we talk about? Tell me.
There are a lot of options that each one of us could and should have availed such as being human, being kind, patient, tolerant and less egoistic. But, we didn’t avail anyone of those. Instead, we played it cool by abusing people who only needed an affirming nod. We tried to bully people in college or school because they couldn’t speak English. We tried to avenge to satiate our egos. We tried to kill people because they hurt our religious sentiments.
And, we are least aware of the fact that every day, someone, somewhere out in this big world, is losing their life because of us. And each one of us is killing someone bit by bit – every day, every minute and every second with our behaviour and attitude. And it doesn’t matter whether we accept it or not – the truth remains the truth.
I am sure life is pretty hard for each one of us. We all want people by our side so that we can finally win the battle that we have been fighting for so long. But life is not meant to be a battleground. It is meant to be a happy lane where we can walk together without throwing stones in someone else’s path. If you cannot remove the engraved stones from someone else’s path, please don’t make it more difficult by putting thorns in their way. Life is too difficult already, do not make it an examination where passing becomes mandatory. Let life be a wind, let it flow.
Each day, when you move out of your home, make sure that you remain kind and friendly to the people around you. Because today, people need to communicate, instead of posting stories on Facebook and WhatsApp. People need to be more humane and less religious. People need to be more courageous to speak the truth, without harbouring the fear of losing someone.
This world needs kindness. You, me, everyone – let us together stop the suicides happening around the world by smiling, by showing that we care, by sending a message, by talking to someone, and most importantly, by accepting people for who they really are.