It's Not Personal.

Suicide is a term known to all of us. Most of us believe that suicide is a result of a person's mental or emotional inability to cope with a situation or problem. A famous sociologist, Emile Durkheim thinks otherwise. He says that suicide occurs due to the social factors that are present around a person and not merely the result of personal choices.

According to The World Health Organisation, suicide is the reason for approximately one million deaths every year which means that one person commits suicide every forty seconds around the world. The report estimates that the numbers would increase by 2020. If we were to consider Durkheim's words, these estimates only mean that the society around us is becoming more dangerous for the mental and emotional health of a person.

If you never teach a student to accept failures in academics and not give them the breathing space to study at their own pace, then you're most likely the main reason for the student's death, if he/she were to commit suicide. If you're growing intolerant towards people who look or think differently from you and resort to bullying and teasing them because of your own insecurities, then you will be the reason behind that person not wanting to live in such a hateful world anymore. If you live in a patriarchal setting and continue trying to oppress a gender while being ignorant towards their emotions and stress levels, you're in turn becoming the reason why they choose not to live their life anymore.

The WHO states that traditionally elderly males have the highest suicide rates in the world and now the younger generation is catching up with their rates. So this proves that the patriarchal society that we live in, is an enemy for men as much as it is for women. It stereotypes men to be emotionally strong and looks down at men who cry or express their true emotions. This prevents more men from talking about their problems aloud, which soon accumulates to a point where they find no motivation to live anymore. Economic inequalities in the society also becomes a factor that pushes a person to commit suicide. True to Durkheim's words, I believe that the society around a person is every bit responsible if he/she were to even have any suicidal thoughts in them.

The next time you find someone having these thoughts or if you yourself are at a stage to contemplate having these thoughts, then stop and look around. Do not self blame yourself for any problem that pushes you to end your life. Look around the setting that you live in, look around the people who you are with, and try figuring out where and why you're garnering these thoughts. Take help from the right set of people if you have to and always stop and think a hundred times if anything in this world is worth taking away your life for.