Each of us has thought about suicide at least once in our lives. For some, this is a fleeting thought, but someone obeys a certain black desire and leaves this world. We are used to drawing a clear line between ourselves, alive, and those who decided to commit suicide, even if unsuccessfully. However, this is fundamentally wrong and serves as an additional feed for suicidal moods of a person with a clouded mind.
It is interesting that the life circumstances that cause thoughts about death in some, can be perceived by others as completely normal - the aspirations and expectations of life are so different among people.
As a result, it turns out that each of us is infected with this virus, which, like some form of herpes, also present in every person, manifests itself frequently in some, while in others almost never. Everything is determined only by our ability to cope with such fatal desires and our worldview.
Even animals are not alien to such irrational behavior. The most famous manifestations of "suicide" in animals are the strange behavior of whales and dolphins. Many cases are recorded every year when these animals are thrown out on land in whole flocks.
At the same time, people often try to save them, but to no avail, because huge mammals categorically refuse to return to their native element. They are forcibly shoved into the ocean, but they are again thrown ashore. When the famous philosopher Plutarch observed this phenomenon many centuries ago, he unequivocally interpreted it as suicide.
One of the most widespread cases occurred several years ago in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, over a hundred whales and dolphins almost simultaneously washed ashore on the island of Tasmania. But these are only found animals. Most likely, there were many times more of them in total.
Many theories have been put forward as explanations. It is clear that they could not consciously go for it. On the other hand, they could have lost their internal reference points. Poor ecology could have affected. This almost always happens after a naval exercise. In addition, animals can simply get sick, as happens with pets, who suddenly refuse to eat and die, but we do not blame them for suicide.
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However, the greatest harm, the responsibility for which lies with humans, is caused by navigation - the noise of ships' engines severely injures the supersensitive organs of animals that are responsible for acoustic orientation.
But all these theories break up against a simple fact: thousands of years ago, when no propeller driven ships existed and nature was pristine, animals behaved the same way. For some reason, many refuse to take this fact into account. Of course, under the influence of human activity, the number of such cases has increased, but they happened before, which means that this problem is of a completely different nature than is commonly thought. Sheep will help to understand this issue.
Quite recently, at the end of 2005, an incredible incident occurred in Turkey: several flocks of sheep at once took up base jumping (jumping from a height) only without parachutes into a gorge not far from the pasture. Every one - 1,500 sheep - jumped into the abyss, causing damage to the owners of more than $ 100,000. It began with one brave and mad sheep, which others followed. A third of the sheep died, as the other two-thirds fell on the soft surface.
This episode is reminiscent of the well-known cases when South African antelopes also throw themselves off the slopes in large herds. Scientists explain such incidents by the excess of a certain number of individuals in a particular territory, although for some reason this does not happen with more numerous herds of the same sheep.
If we agree with the theory of the subconscious mechanism of population regulation and transfer it to humans, then, oddly enough, much becomes clear. For example, the number of suicides in people is directly proportional to the population density in the territory. There are fewer of them in villages, and more in cities.
In animals, the urge to die occurs unconsciously, but is it so conscious in us? After all, sometimes the reasons for suicides are trifling. Maybe something unknown and uncontrollable is trying to keep us within limits? In any case, the percentage of suicides per capita has been growing for many years along with the total human population on planet Earth.
CAUSES OF SUICIDE
One of the first and most significant contributions to the study of the subject of suicide belongs to the great Frenchman Emile Durkheim. It was Durkheim who identified four main types of suicide, this classification is relevant to this day. Probably finding the key factors, he was many years ahead of his time, and his approach will always be universal.
Selfish suicide is a type of suicide when a person's connections with the social structure of society disappear.
As a result, a person simply moves away from the norms, rules and aspirations of the world around him, unable or simply unwilling to obey them. This view is more typical for people with an intellectual mindset, since they are able to assess the situation.
Altruistic suicide is when a person sacrifices his own interests to the public, against the background of which he loses himself, not realizing that he is primary. In such cases, for him the most important are some hypothetical and abstract concepts, the destruction of which or problems with which cause impulses to commit suicide.
Anomical suicide - associated with social crises. There are two types - economic, when there are changes in the level of well-being, and family, when the marriage foundations break.
Fatal suicide is when a person is dominated by a certain group of people that he is unable to resist.
It is not for nothing that all researchers of the causes of suicide come to the conclusion that it is the subjective political, ideological, economic and social aspects of life that play the main role. It is they who form a person's opinion and influence his attitude towards certain events around him. The lifestyle of a person in general also plays a significant role. The closer people are to natural life, the less suicides - this has been proven for a long time.
There were almost no suicides in Russia while the country was agrarian and people lived in small communities, caring only about food. Sociologists have calculated that this trend can be traced in all cases without exception. If the community is small, then it is cohesive and does without extreme measures in solving problems.
If a society is too large to be united always, and not only at some special historical moments, then it is difficult for each individual to feel that he is not alone, and then there is an increase in suicides.
But humanity is smoothly transitioning to an urban lifestyle. In our country, over a hundred years, the ratio between rural and urban residents has changed diametrically, and even soon the village will be gone. Therefore, one should not be surprised at the high voluntary mortality in megacities and even just in large cities. Loneliness among millions is the main pushing factor into the abyss of the modern world.
Our entire world has changed significantly, including our foundations. We have become smarter, but this is what ruins us. We ceased to be believers, and our brain was flooded with the influence of sects and mystical movements, sometimes directly pushing us on the path of suicide ("David's Branch") and murder.
And what is the result? People lost their foothold, and for many, almost everyone, suicide has become another democratic right. It seems like I want to and I will kill myself - my life, and what I want, I do with it. How was it a couple of hundred years ago? Then the Christian faith, which was trusted and strictly worshiped from birth to death, clearly stated that committing suicide is the gravest sin. And this significantly restrained human impulses. Many could not even think to violate such a prohibition.
It is scary to think that often the things we strive for create more problems for us than we think and can cause our death. We strive for a comfortable life, but as soon as we achieve it, we lose our inner core and cannot find another use for ourselves. At first, a person fights for goals, but when he reaches them, he may not have others, which is clearly seen in the example of very rich people, the moral decay among whom is so high that it has long been a talk of the town.
They have everything and absolutely do not know where to direct their efforts. At best, they will find themselves some strange occupation, and at worst, they will always be in the deepest depression, which sooner or later will make a person think about death.
American sociologists have identified the relationship between the standard of living in the United States and suicide statistics, and the result is shocking. Everything is not at all as we imagined.
For example, in the relatively stable years of the first two decades of the 20th century, the number of suicides in America was much higher than in Russia, and it was constantly growing. But when the Great Depression of the 1930s hit, there was an unexpected recession that was exacerbated by World War II and the "atomic psychosis" of the 1950s. Then came the prosperous 1960-1970s, and the Americans began to commit suicide with whole armies. As they approached the American Dream, people too often ceased to value their own lives.
Even the information revolution that has taken place over the past few decades is making a tangible contribution to the number of suicides around the world. It is mainly about creating new role models and ideals, the inconsistency with which can push a person to the very last thing in life.
In addition, information overload is a source of increased stress that sensitive people cannot handle. Sometimes they promote some new "God" of our time, but something happens to him, and the fans, unable to bear the loss, themselves begin to jump out of windows and cut their veins.
SUICIDE IN MODERN RUSSIA
In Russia, there are appalling statistics of suicides among the lower strata of the population. This is understandable. They see a luxury that is not available to them, especially if their life has gone downhill after the collapse of the USSR. This is symbolic. The country in the form of individuals began to take their own lives after the huge political structure of the state in fact did the same.
You can argue for a long time about what happened, but the USSR was led to suicide by those who ruled for many years before.
And he drove to the point that the system could not exist and collapsed, self-destroyed, hanged herself.
Those who came later, only reaped the fruits of this chaos, dooming themselves to the eternal destiny of being the culprits of what happened.
In this situation, many have completely lost the foundations of life that were paved with granite letters in their minds. They simply could not accept the new life and simply left it, leaving suffering in the new conditions to the lot of others who still endure and cannot understand what happened.
If the political situation is less and less the cause of suicide in recent years, then the eternal problem of alcoholism will haunt our minds for a long time. Maybe forever. The highest number of suicides among alcoholics is in our country. Contrary to popular belief, they do not come to this at the moments of meeting with the "squirrel", which in fact is only a joy to them, in whatever form it may be.
They come up to the rope in those very rare moments of enlightenment of the already bubbly and incapable brain. Imagine how you wake up after months of darkness and see that you are nothing, that everyone hates you, that your kind of people makes you sick, that no one is able to love you, that only morons surround you, that you have nothing and almost no chance of the future that you just squandered your life.
What to do? Quickly run after the bubble that will take you to the wonderful unconscious realm, where there are no vain problems and no one will reproach you. And if the conscience leaps? And if you realize that even a green serpent will not help? It is at these moments that they come to suicide. I knew a man who was unusually kind, but at the same time was not able to cope with the world around.
At one point, he decided to simply hang himself, leaving three little girls in the care of his poor wife. Was he so kind that he condemned his children to fatherlessness? Or he only did better by removing such a burden from his wife's neck as a failed, unemployed husband. One way or another, I personally do not find an excuse for such actions.
Among young people, one of the leading causes of suicide and their imitation is unhappy love. A man is a pair creature, and it is very difficult for him to come to terms with the fact that he cannot be with the chosen one or the chosen one. Often this applies to young people who have not yet had other occupations and responsibilities, which is why heart matters completely occupy their heads. The situation is aggravated by quarrels and betrayals.
EUTHANASIA
Sometimes a person cannot tolerate his illness. All over the world, there are still not in vain debates about the legalization of euthanasia, because it is actually a suicide.
Euthanasia - comes from the Greek "en" - good and "thanatos" - death; means the practice of ending the life of a person suffering from an incurable disease and experiencing unbearable suffering, by any available humane means. For the first time the term was used by F. Bacon, who meant the happy death of the patient by this concept. Euthanasia is legal in some countries, and there is debate in many about its permission; this practice is prohibited in Russia. You can die of your own free will in Israel, Switzerland, the Netherlands, some states of the USA, Belgium, France, etc. Opponents have the main argument - there is always a justified hope for healing or new medical advances.
Personally, this topic touched me before I was even born. My grandfather fell ill with leukemia at a young age. It is clear that the treatment in those years could not be effective, and after a few years his life turned into existence. Terrible existence. Mom and grandmother told me a lot about this, and I still can hardly imagine how he managed to live. Since he did not want and could not lie in the hospital all the time, where they did nothing worthwhile, he was at home, where his wife and two daughters looked after him.
But as the situation worsened, he could no longer even sleep, and every minute of his life was a terrible torment. It was inflated from within, and all attempts to do something were useless. At one terrible moment, unable to endure the terrible pain, he took out a gun …
I always think - here he is, maybe he was somehow "lucky" that he was able to solve the problem on his own, albeit in this way. But how many people in this world who, tightly bedridden, live with terrible pain and suffering for many years. Their pleas for life support or a fatal injection are ignored because it is illegal.
My grandfather was no exception to the rule. Many hopelessly ill and even simply disabled people and those who do not experience severe torment come to the same decision, unable to live or come to terms with such a life.
PEOPLE DO NOT PRESENT WHAT IT IS
Most suicides don't know what they are doing. At the moment, they simply dwell on one problem and completely forget not only about other problems, but also about the positive aspects of existence.
For example, a person has unhappy love. It is clear that it is very difficult for him and thoughts about it crowd out everything else. But is it really worth the happiness of parents and other loved ones? Could it really be worth the other pleasures of life?
In the end, can it really be worth the future love, most likely happy, which will definitely come? And for love - a new family and children, bringing a lot of joy, which in the event of his suicide will not even get a chance to exist. A person does not understand that it just takes time, often just a couple of days, to survive even the most severe stress. If he can't stand it, then because of a couple of days of torment, he completely cuts off his life and destroys the happiness of loved ones.
Many generally approach the concept of suicide in a purely abstract way, giving it even a romantic tinge. Here is how the famous scientist Igor Vagin commented on this aspect of suicide:
- People often do not understand the consequences. They think that now they will die, and parents, relatives, a beloved girl or a beloved boy will worry, regret and repent. Everything is so romantic, and at the end there is a beautiful grave with flowers.
My young girlfriend often spoke on this topic, adding special sentimental details: how everyone will grieve over her, and how beautiful she will lie in a coffin with such or such an expression on her face and a turn of her head. The most interesting thing is that her whole concept of suicide ended there. It seems like something clicks - and she lies in a wonderful coffin, and everyone grieves and brings flowers.
I destroyed this illusion very simply. Since I saw suicides in the morgue and I know quite well what preparation for burial is, I just told her everything in great detail, which made her stomach twist:
“Don't think that everything will be in your favorite pink tones. Firstly, if you jump from a height, your skull may just burst, and your limbs literally break like chips, with meat and bones out. You will have such a bloody grimace on your face, which you have not seen even in horror films.
If in life you know how to fold your lips correctly or turn your head in order to look the most impressive, then there, on the ground, after a fall, your mouth will be crooked, and your eyes will be wide open in horror. The nose will most likely be rolled onto its side. The skull will be irregular. And all this will be covered in blood. Then they put you in a black bag and threw you into the car like a log.
Further it gets worse. You will be brought to the morgue, where the bodies are treated like simple bags, you know with what. After dropping you somewhere in the unwashed, moldy floors, they will first throw you into a bunch of "newcomers" right in the bag and hang a tag on you.
The next day they will put you on the table and the pathologist will cut you inside and out, pulling out all the organs. In the room, there will be a crackle from breaking your skull with a scalp rolled over your face. Then all the "spare parts" will be stuffed into the stomach and sewn up. Or maybe just throw such a ripped straight into another pile, where you, naked, will lie in a pile of all sorts of the same ripped men and women, old and not so.
Then they will prepare you for burial and, if your face is not injured, it will be opened for kisses. I don’t think you’ll like funerary makeup. Oh, and don't forget that you will have to forget about sales in your favorite stores.
I supplemented my story with photographs from the Internet, and since then no one has spoken about such things. Perhaps such a consultation should be given to many young ladies. To heighten the effect, they can be taken to the morgue, where they will personally see what happens to the person in the final stages before the funeral.
There they will catch that deep feeling that overwhelms a person when he first enters such an institution and sees whole walls lined with black and crimson coffins: never get there feet first.
FINALLY
Many take this extreme step just to attract attention, and not by pretending, but by actually taking their own lives. Truly a strange price to be paid for passing popularity with acquaintances. And for many, all this in general can turn into a kind of game in which they do not even realize the main and only stake - life with its pleasures and opportunities.
Due to the limited thinking, some people think that this is fashionable. They do not necessarily think about their death, but reproduce the image of a suicide, which can leave everyone at any moment.
If this is a man, then long-legged people can take it and brighten up the "last" moments. But also those who do not understand such a game and take everything seriously. It's hard to stop wondering about human nature.
Simulators are another story. As a rule, these are women, because it is not in vain that they really die three times less than men, and they make almost ten times more attempts. Again, they want to grab the attention of a loved one or parents. For them, it's romance.
In modern consumer society, some ladies have taken it as fashion on the eve of sales to regularly portray a victim of emotional distress to appease the sponsor. Especially such incidents are more frequent when trying to get a new fur coat or car. However, they often do not know the measures in the acting and really kill themselves.
Not only do they not understand what they are doing, they also don’t think about the fact that at the moment of committing suicide they can take someone else's life with them. Situations are so surprising that it is difficult to believe them without concrete evidence.
For example, in Moscow in 2005, one girl, accompanied by her boyfriend, left the house on Khalturinskaya Street. As soon as the young people left the entrance, a suicide man fell right on the girl from the 12-storey building. She miraculously survived, lost several teeth, broke her ribs and received a concussion.
It is impossible to count such cases. A couple of years ago, in South Africa, a man threw himself under a bus carrying British tourists. Trying to dodge, the driver lost control, the bus overturned, as a result 8 people died.
In Austria, near Lake Constance, a train crushed a suicide. When he, or rather what was left of him, was scraped off the rails by two policemen and a funeral officer, they were also hit to death by a train. Probably, the speed and noiselessness of European missiles on the rails are to blame for everything.
And in Tajikistan, a woman decided to drown herself in the famous border river Pyanj. Two brave Tajiks rushed to her aid, but this did not save her. Moreover, they themselves drowned.
If you don't value your life, then at least you value someone else's.
Author: Mikhail Raduga