Letter: If you are in despair try to remember that it is better to talk to someone - you deserve to live
A letter from John Fitzgerald:
I believe we need to talk about the awful tragedy of suicide.
It's said that almost everyone thinks of it as an option at some point. A seemingly overwhelming and irresistible despair forms like a cloud...blocking the light, you might say.
But there's always a way out. It’s at least worth asking for a second opinion because, as we know too well from how the world works, nothing is ever exactly how it seems!
How many times has a problem seemed beyond the power of any force on earth to resolve… and begun to look or sound a lot less daunting after just a chat with someone you trust, who’s prepared to listen?
A chink of light, a tiny flicker maybe, enters the darkness and, before too long, you find that whatever it was that cast the cruel shadow could be tackled after all.
A favourite reason of my own for not quitting this life is the curious finding that a big majority of people who attempt suicide and fail, and who report Near Death Experiences (NDEs), are relieved that the attempt didn’t succeed.
Regardless of whether NDEs are visions of an afterlife or something else entirely, it’s interesting that those fortunate people reckoned that life was, after all, better than a self-inflicted exit from this world.
Apart from giving one’s own life a chance, there’s another reason not to ‘end it all’ and that’s the way so many loved ones, and other people we don’t even know, will be affected. To avoid hurting those people it’s better by far to talk to a friend, work colleague, or counsellor. It could be the best decision or the best day’s work ever!
Life is short enough as it is, I believe, and there’s enough grieving. How much better just to talk to someone: Call a helpline if you don’t want to share with someone you know.
I don’t mean to judge anyone who died by suicide, but just to say: If the choice is between leaving this world abruptly in a way that will bring nothing but endless heartache and tragedy…and giving life another chance…then it's better to stay. You deserve to live.
Sincerely, John Fitzgerald, Co Kilkenny