Check Up On Your Loved Ones
Few weeks ago, I read on twitter about a boy who committed suicide. He was in his early twenties. Before his death, he was constantly harassed by the police. Here in the country, the authorities have this habit of stopping vehicles on the highway and searching all the passengers, especially the public transport vehicles.
The day it happened, they took his laptop, his phones and every other valuable on him. He was into forex trading and was monitoring the market. The chat was open on his device, so they concluded that he was a yahoo boy ( someone who scams people for money). The locked him up and tortured the life out of him. He eventually got released but the damages were already done. He lost a lot of money.
Now, the thing is that he kept having nightmares of what he went through while in prison. His psyche was already damaged. He reached out but no one listened. It was after his death that his tweets about his experience and what he was going through went viral. He clearly stated that he was telling the world his story in case something happened to him. His brother, who broke the news and shared the story hated himself for reading and ignoring. But the dead was already dead. Too late.
How often do you check up on your loved ones?
I remember what happened shortly after I turned 22. I had a chronic depression earlier. I was nineteen at the time. I wasn't completely healed. I was a teenager and had no idea how to manage shit, so I swallowed till it went away. That was what I thought. Fast forward to three years later, my dad died and it came back, harder than before. That was the first time I actually considered ending my life. I'll spare you the story about how I stayed up at night staring at the razor blade, wondering what would happen if I pick it up and cut. But I didn't because someone wouldn't let me. She stayed with me on the phone all day while I cried my eyes out. Without that, I have no idea what would have happened.
People were making fun of it all through this lockdown. Checking in on others because they are bored. They wouldn't have done it if things were normal. That is how damaged it has become. You don't know what anyone is going through till they tell you, even your family members. Ask questions, both hard and simple ones. Check in from time to time. You never know when you'll save a life.
Hmmm I wish it was easy to ask such questions without things getting awkward. But it's better that things are awkward than someone dies.