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Americans' suicide reasons no good
By Sandra Johnson
One of my friends tried to kill herself awhile ago. So did one of my roommate's friends. This all happened during the same week. We tried to be supportive and offer our friends whatever help they needed, but something kept bothering me.
I think it was the fact that these people, and plenty of other people that I have seen, wanted to kill themselves over obscenely stupid reasons like a boyfriend, finals week or for attention.
You know what, those reasons suck. I do not feel bad for someone who decides that their Math test is just too hard and they cannot go on with life if they get a D. Most of the people who want to kill themselves really have nothing to complain about. They could be much worse off.
They could be sold into prostitution at the age of seven by their family, contract AIDS because the men they "service" won't wear condoms and think that if they have sex with a virgin they will be cured of AIDS and then die by the age of fourteen like a few unlucky girls in India. They could be the mother of a two-month-old baby girl who was raped by a seventy-two year old man while she was at work in Africa. Or they could suffer genital mutilation in Africa, continuous rape by enemy soldiers in Bosnia or forced sterilization like some women in Tibet.
Somehow Billy Bob wanting to slit his wrists because he did not make the hockey team or Betty Lou wanting to wash down a bottle of Vicodin with a keg of Michelob Light because her boyfriend slept with her best friend do not seem like good reasons anymore.
Now that we are at war, these same people can thank their lucky stars that they aren't Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire or one of the hundreds of soldiers on both sides stuck in a bunker wondering when a grenade will blow their leg off or if they will receive a "Dear John/Jane" letter in the mail. If I was a soldier sweating in the deserts of Iraq or Afghanistan helping to protect Americans, I would be livid if a bunch of them decided to kill themselves because their dog died or their parents got divorced.
Besides, law enforcement gets really annoyed when they get called to suicide attempts. There is a saying, "You know you've been a cop too long when you want to write a book entitled, 'Suicide: Getting it Right the First Time.'" Cops see this type of thing every day, and after a while they just do not care. They have more important things to worry about, like anthrax attacks and people flying planes into buildings.
The bottom line is this: be happy with what you have and realize that many people have it a lot worse. There is no doubt that everyone goes through Hell and gets their hearts ripped out of their bodies once and a while, but there is no reason to help yourself kick the bucket because of it. Get the help you need and spare your friends and family the pain.
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