What is life's worth?

Aditya Saxena
Sep 11, 2020
4 min read

Image Courtesy: Unsplash

Firstly, not the kind of blogs I write but there are two reasons for this post:

10th September was World Suicide Prevention Day and that is something what has me worried myself so I thought I should contribute all I can.
The issue of suicides and hopelessness is very much connected to my own work Hope's Tribulation so I have some matter that I can share.

Why Suicide?

Suicide is something almost everyone knows about. And that is not good. Do you think a 12-year-old needs to know what is suicide? No they don't! This is just like the concept of cheating - a kid does not know what is cheating and why is it done until he is nagged by his elders not to cheat. Similarly, a kid needs not know what is suicide and what are suicidal thoughts.

Speaking of suicidal thoughts reminds me of a news article from today:

A 12-year-old committed suicide because his parents won't let him be with the love of his life.

Yes your read that right. Why though? The kid does not even know what is love or heartbreak or even pain! This is all the society's fault. You can say, "It is very easy to blame the society.", but really, who taught the kid the word suicide? Society deserves to be blamed for this and I am a part of this society and I take up the blame because unintentionally, it is possible that even I taught a kid about suicide. This power to take up the blame is what can reform the society. When you take up the guilt, you take up the responsibility to rid the world of such practices.

How to treat a suicidal person?

Frankly, by no means can you help a suicidal person until he is ready to be healed. Hope cannot be given to someone. Hope comes from within. What can be given is motivation. And this is all we can do - motivate.

In terms of our approach towards them, my way of approaching depressed people is not what many people opt but in my opinion it is the only effective way to tackle depressed people.

And that method is apathy! Yes, there is no better way to tackle most suicidal people. If I say this, there is a reason to it:

Most depressed people are not even depressed!

Depression is developing as a trend. And that is very disheartening. And as a result, most of these "depressed people" are just attention seekers or kindly saying, people suffering from social anxiety. Such people confuse social anxiety with depression very quickly and then start acting like depressed people without even being depressed.

This social anxiety soon converts into the will of being recognized by people and so these people start seeking attention through this topic of their depression.

This particular line might hurt some people A LOT!

And so apathy is the best way to tackle such people. If you don't give them what they want, they will realize that this method is useless, simple!

But what if the person really is depressed?

There's nothing you can do. Only a professional can cure this person. If you try to contain him/her, it will ultimately lead to a major mental breakdown which can be fatal. Apathy can be rude here.

And here is the confusing part

How do you know if this person is really depressed?

Unless you are a professional, you cannot figure it out if you are not connected to the person. You need to have the knowledge of this person's present, past, normal behavior and current activities.

What to do if you have suicidal thoughts?

The following is what I'd tell you if you had came to me and said, "I want to end my life brother, I cannot live!"

"Go ahead! If you are so stupid to end your life, I couldn't care less about such a person."

This is all I'd say. This line has deep meaning which I would explain to the person:

"Obviously any stupid will only end his/her life. All the troubles that you went through, all the pain that you had, all the achievements you had, all the relationships you built, all the love which came in your life - all wasted! This is all a waste if you are gonna end everything of something so silly! Grow up dude, this is life not a game. You won't get a second chance ever! Bear this in mind when you are about to die. You surely couldn't make your family and friends happy with being so sad yourself and now by ending your life you are making them depressed too. You won't be able to face God because this is a sin."

And as to the answer of the main question - what is life's worth:

LIFE IS WORTH EVERYTHING!

Everything you do is part of your life, so giving up on life is giving up on everything. Never lose hope people. Hope is our driver in this crazy route we call life. Always have faith in God, he never does anything without a reason. Even if you are an agnostic or atheist - you need to have faith in the various extraordinary forces that affect our lives. Nothing goes in vain in life. Hard work ultimately pays off, one way or the other

I will end this blog with a line I always say:

Thanks a lot for reading till the end. Have a nice and productive day and Stay Safe!