Death and taxes: dealing with thoughts of suicide
Recently due in part to events in my life, a television show, and the steady progress of time. I have been thinking thoughts of death. We each march inexorably closer to it with every breath we take. Everyone must deal with death in his or her lifetime. It may be a close friend tragically taken from you by an automobile accident, it may be a dear loved one or child who commits suicide, it may be simply someone you know who is taken by a heart attack early on a cold morning.
How we deal with death defines our very being. There are many differing ways to deal with death. You can bury yourself in grief letting it totally overwhelm your life. You can disconnect from all around you totally suppressing your emotions. Or you can celebrate the life of the person, celebrate the many large and the small ways that they made the lives of the people around them better. You can of course miss them greatly. Each passing will leave it's marks in your life however even these will fade over time.
Some of us deal with the thoughts of our own death at many times in our personal lives. Our lives seem to be at a halt. Our personal growth seems stunted. We lost a job. We lost family by divorce or death. We feel aimless and that it has become pointless to continue. We feel the numbness of death would be a welcome relief. We would be wrong. You can celebrate the life of someone that lived it and took it all as it came. However, you can but mourn in grief the life of someone who refused to give it a chance.
Like a fruit on a fruit tree each person starts out as a bud in life. We are a potential that must blossom in order to fulfill the purpose of our life. We bear fruit be it by bearing children or be it by influencing the lives of those around us for the better. Then as all fruit must eventually do we fall from the tree. This is nature's way as the verse heard at so many funerals "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust" makes so very clear.
The moral of this story is simple. While you might consider suicide in your life be sure that you discard that promptly as a choice. Live life, enjoy the good, and cry over the bad. Never attempt to end that what can become better than your wildest dreams. Remember while facing death can help to refocus your hopes thoughts, and dreams. Suicide will end them forever.
