Suicide, The Elephant in
The Room
When confronted with
or discussing the act of suicide the elephant in the room metaphor comes into
play. We know it exists but in a state
of denial we concede our power to confront it and control it. Scripted responses often fill the need for a
response. An
announcement on medical phone answering machines and ads running in the media says,
"If you are considering suicide, call this number. We sit back with a self-serving smugness,
fooling ourselves into believing that we are doing all we can to solve a
society-created problem. Once the news
of suicide reaches our domain, we flood social media outlets with worthless
platitudes hoping to soothe our scared but jaded physic. We spend many moments trying to wrap our
minds around the unanswered question, "What could drive a person of their
standing or a child of that age to commit such an act." The answer seems
to escape us, or is it because we are not prepared to accept the answer?
Depression
is an entity that society, the church, and many families pretend not to
notice. It plays an important role in
suicide. If we do not recognize it or if
we just pray, the consensus of the religious is, it will go away. This ideology has left the door open for many
to go ahead and commit suicide. Today,
preachers and so-call successful people are committing suicide. Many are
surprised to learn that a person who seemed to be so successful and appeared to
have everything anyone could ever want in life would ever feel so down,
depressed, and/or worthless as to consider suicide as the only option. Again, the question is, what is it that keeps
any of us from committing suicide?
Until we can truly answer that question we cannot prevent it.
When
I began preparation for my book, ‘The Weaponization of Hate”, I engaged a learned
expert in a detailed discussion on suicides.
I was not interested in learning the meaning or history of suicide. With all of the help that is supposed to be
available the question was why is suicide on the increase? Suicide, like so
many other things in life, the more we study from an academic perspective the
less we know. His years of education
coupled with his position in the veteran healthcare care programs allowed him
to develop what I refer to as a “god complex. “ He showed his disdain at being
questioned by the likes of me on a subject that he was considered to be an
expert on. My interest was lost the
moment he began explaining that suicide is the act of intentionally
causing one's death. I would be hard-pressed to visualize a person
not knowing what suicide was. There is
an elephant in the room that no one seems to want to address. I resigned myself to the adage that much is
often spoken but very little said.
When
I received a cancer diagnosis some years ago, it took me to a place that I
would have not believed existed. If you
have not been there then you will not know what I am talking about, you can only
imagine and the depth of your imagination will be flawed. Try to imagine a place where all hopes,
aspirations, and expectations suddenly vanished and darkness overshadows you. Even this does not adequately describe your situation,
because mere words cannot describe your predicament. At the end of the day, I found myself staring
into the abyss and the abyss was staring back at me. After reviewing the treatment plan, and the prognosis,
I placed all of my options on the proverbial table. Suicide once again became a viable option.
What is the abyss, and what is its unique relationship to the suffering
of humanity? The word has a mysterious
sound, almost like a sigh of despair.
Yet, the abyss is not what it is; it is what it represents.
The
abyss is an unfathomably deep or boundless place in the English Bible. Abyss is a transliteration of the Greek
word abyssos [a [busso"] (RSV "bottomless
pit"). The
term comes from the Greek ἄβυσσος, meaning bottomless, unfathomable, boundless.
It
would be unnerving if I used those three adjectives to describe the human
mental condition. In Psalm 71:20, "the depths of the earth" are
spoken of in a manner almost signifying death (however, it probably means no
more than the depths of one's troubles on earth). Yet, the Bible teaches it is a place. "They
have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,
and in the Greek tongue, he hath the name Apollyon" (Revelation 9:11) (ASV)
The abyss represents the depth of one's
troubles here on earth. Its existence is
both natural and supernatural, and it is transformational. It serves as the depository of our past
mistakes and our fears, a place where hope has vanished. If we stare into the abyss, we can see what
we want to see, which is merely a picture hiding what lies beneath. The chance of being drawn in where escape is
usually futile is always a risk.
In
some societies, there is a religious connotation that makes these acts
distasteful, while in some societies to save face, suicide once was an honorable
means of departure. A belief in the
almighty deity is that barrier that prevents us from indiscriminately killing others
and ourselves. The truth of this statement
is not based upon our acceptance. Tampering
with the laws that once sustained us will open pandora’s box, suicide, murder,
and other vices will become the norm.
When a
person of notable fame or status commits suicide the media has a field day
reporting the facts mixed with speculations over and over again. Recently, while the media was salivating over
the suicide of a young actor/dancer, a woman open fire on two armed law
officers, in the events that followed the lady was killed along with both
officers. It was first and falsely
reported that she had taken her own life.
Regardless, the unanswered question is did she intentionally create a
situation that would cause her life to be taken? Was this an unreported form of suicide known
as, “Suicide by Cops?”
The
Elephant in the room is a metaphor used to simplify a critical stage in the development
and survival of humanity. When a notable person commits suicide there is
a rush to find an answer as to how this could be prevented. According to the World Health Organization,
suicides are preventable. Yet by
their admission, more than 700 000 die each year due to suicide. At the end of the day, nothing is said or
done that will prevent the next suicide.
Now we should ask the question, Why? Here are some of the key facts
listed by the World Health Organization:
- For every suicide, there are many more people
who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important
risk factor for suicide in the general population.
- Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death
among 15-29 year-olds.
- 77% of global suicides occur in low- and
middle-income countries.
- Ingestion of pesticides, hanging, and firearms
are among the most common methods of suicide globally.
Nowhere
in the elucidations does this or any other organization address the root cause
of this malady and America and other countries are making it hard to address
the problem from a root cause perspective.
My goal here is not to convince you with
thorough exegesis that all other opinions or reactions are wrong, but rather to
provide another perspective that harmonizes what Scripture says. I ask you this
question, could the rise in incidents of suicide be caused by the decline in
the belief in the scripture?
