Suicide is NOT the Solution !!

Newspaper heading: 7 year old hangs herself and ends life…suicide committed by a 10 year old boy…3 more suicides in the city yesterday…

Since a past few months, as soon as we started reading the newspaper, what we come across was the number of suicides and suicide attempts that increased day by day. It’s really tough to understand as to how the children or the youth is driven to take such a cowardly step of ending one’s life. Is it the pressure from the parents or peers or even school which pushes you to this extent?

People have started blaming reality television serials which have started young aspirants who have failed to win as to the reason behind their suicides. In another case, a young girl was not allowed to pursue her passion to dance by her parents. She was stopped from attending dance classes as the parents thought it is affecting her studies. An immediate speed breaker to her passion came in the form of her parents and she committed suicide. I completely agree that studies are important in a child’s life, but the child needs some space to pursue what he or she dreams of. Parents need to talk it out with their kids and channelize their passion into results.

Exams and the pressure of not scoring well and as per the expectations of people around you, be it your parents or relatives or even teachers keep on increasing as they start comparing with other children around. Every child has its own plus points and shortcomings. Parents should understand that. I came across another article in the paper where in a young girl aspiring to be a chartered accountant, did not do well in her exams and ended her life due to that. The basic understanding that one should not take failure to heart but consider it as a stepping stone to success has to be grilled into the students and everyone around because Success is waiting for you with open arms on the other side. Just remember one mantra: If I can’t run I’ll walk..If I can’t walk I’ll crawl but I’ll definitely reach the finishing line one day. There is no substitute for hard work, but failure shouldn’t dampen your ability to work towards your goal.

Winston Churchill once said “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

People should understand that in any competition there is only one winner, but everyone who does not win is not a loser but a LEARNER. I believe that we should have counselors coming in the school and having interactive sessions with students as well as teachers. It will be great if even parents take this counseling as to how to approach kids when they feel that the world has come down on them. Especially now when exams are nearing and students start getting pressurized, something must be done to lessen the pressure they are facing. Exams should be taken as a test for one’s own capabilities and not to prove anything to anyone.

Life is a precious gift that we have got from God, use it in the right direction and in the right spirit. In the end, I would like to say “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”

STOP SUICIDES…ENJOY LIFE!!