More people die from suicide than all violence combined?
I recently learned that it appears as if suicide kills more people than all violence combined including homicide, terrorism, armed conflict and executions.
From what I've seen in previous research the vast majority of these are men killing themselves. Something like 4 to 1 or 75% if I remember correctly.
According to the data it looks like someone kills themselves every 40 seconds.
As much as I've said throughout my life I'd never kill myself.. I got pretty close last year.
I was just beat down by life and other people to the point I seriously contemplated jumping off a cliff cause it would take the pain away.
Though I've been wishing I was dead since March of 2012 when the first woman I fell in love with passed away from a rare form of cancer.
I know she wouldn't want that, but it's just unbearable for me to realize that I'm still here and she's not and I feel like maybe if I could have done something different I could have somehow saved her. So I feel some guilt on some level.
And then all the women who I met afterwards who I thought cared about me but who ended up treating me horribly kept adding and adding to that feeling of me not wanting to be here anymore.
When I needed love the most, they showed me some of the most ruthless coldness and deception.
So... Needless to say I can relate, I've been there in regards to both wishing I was dead and once actually seriously considering it.
Finally in the last couple of months or so I've started to come out of it a bit and I don't very often find myself saying "I wish I was dead" anymore..
It still happens from time to time, but not nearly as much..
I think that's probably a good thing cause there's a few people who care about me and they would be sad if I killed myself.
I'm going to keep working on it and try to pull out of this more to the degree that's possible and then maybe I can help others more who are dealing with similar as well.
Throughout my life I've talked to quite a few people when they needed someone when they were suicidal and I've always tried to be there for people when I can.
And fortunately I've had some people be there for me as well when I'm going through dark times.
Unfortunately though, the ones who I wished would have been there for me were not and quite a few people actually have been annoyed by my sad thoughts or try to insult me and belittle me because I've been sad.
I don't understand why, I guess they want everything to be "perfect" in their lives and when they see someone going through hard times it bothers them and they wanna attack it and try to make it go away. Just a guess as I don't really know.
Anyways.. This is getting a bit on the long side so I'm going to end it shortly.
I want to finish this by saying..
To all the sad or lonely people out there, I hope you feel less sad or lonely soon and if you want someone to talk to I'm around and I won't ignore you or belittle you like some other people might.
Just to be clear though I'm really busy and overwhelmed and I have a lot of messages to respond to so it might take me a lil while to respond.
Yet if you're in a really bad or dark place I'll do my best to make time!
Much love to you. <3
I don't agree with everything in this article, but I think it's a good source of statistics and info.
https://www.unilad.co.uk/featured/suicide-statistics-wars-terror-attacks/
Photo by Ian Espinosa on Unsplash
If you remove all the "Clinton Suicides" then the data may lean the other way lulz.
Heh.. This isn't really a thread I would personally joke on or expect others to, but your joke was a good one.
That is an unfortunate statistic. That's a lot of people. I feel like something that contributes to men taking their lives is that many men tend to isolate themselves from others when they feel depressed which actually often increases the feeling of depression. I personally believe that since humans are a social species people need to be/feel connected to other people, so isolation compounds the issue. Sometimes I think that men have a more difficult time connecting to others as well so it's sort of a vicious circle, so to speak. Maybe thats just my own thing though. My own interpretation. I'm sure there are many other factors at play as well.
Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that you go through such dark times but I'm glad that they have gotten better lately. I hope there is someone you can talk to when you are feel down or even a number you can call when things are really tough.
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Yeah it is.. I agree with the isolation thing and also that men are often taught to sort of keep it all in and not express themselves, if they express their pain they'll likely get called a pussy or a woman or gay by other men. I grew up around guys like that and.. I can see how that would effect many. Luckily I didn't let that stop me from expressing myself though I'm sure it played a role in how I express myself to some degree.
And yeah I think there's a lot of factors though you have to wonder why it's men so much more than women.. I have a feeling it has a lot to do with how we're conditioned in society to be "warriors" and certain gender role stuff like that, also another thing is how often we do the really messed up jobs like going to war to kill others or the very difficult physical factory jobs and fire fighting jobs and things that really take a toll on our bodies and hearts as well.
Thanks for your condolences and empathy. I really appreciate it man and how you've been there in the past when I have expressed my sad thoughts. You seem like a good guy.
Which brings me to something I want to ask. I just had this steem torch thing sent to me earlier and I'm suppose to pass it on to someone else I trust.. And.. Even though I haven't known you as long as others I feel like you're one of the individuals I trust the most on here. Would it be okay with you if I sent it to you next? Assuming you didn't already have someone send it to you previously? If so you need to have access to your wallet and the ability to transfer to someone else or else the 600+ steem will get lost and stuck on your account.
I'll include some links below with more info and then you'll be expected to send it to someone else that you trust next if you do decide to accept.
https://steemit.com/steem/@bengy/passing-on-the-steem-torch
https://steemit.com/steemtorch/@steemtorch/the-steem-torch-has-been-passed-to-apolymask
I appreciate you considering me for the steem torch. Oh boy that so much pressure it makes me nervous lol. I wouldn't want to mess it up or pass it to someone who kept it for themselves hahaha. Um...how quickly would I need to find someone to pass it on to? I couldn't do it this weekend.
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Here's the rules.
https://steemit.com/steem/@geekgirl/steem-torch
It doesn't say you have any particular amount of time, though it does say to try to send it to the next person "as soon as possible".
If you're unsure you'll be able to think of someone you trust enough I can think of someone else. And if you won't be able to do it by this weekend I should probably put it in my savings just in case I get hacked then it'll be okay either way. Heh. Yeah it is a bit of pressure. I don't want to mess up either.
Yeah ok im open to it. if you want to send it to me that's fine. I thought of a few people I think would accept it from me.
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Cool! I'll send it over shortly.
It takes a lot of time to heal from wounds and hurts that love can being. I know that and live through it. I think after death or grave illness the next most horrible thing is betrayal. It’s good to talk about these things or write them down like @leaky20 said above... it may not think like much, but wording and expressing thoughts and feelings seems to take off some if the unbearable weight... and sometimes that’s exactly the fragile line between life and death
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I would probably agree, except for maybe "torture" Though.. Betrayal is often a form of torture in my opinion, one of the worst forms of torture as well cause it's not an enemy hurting you which you might expect but someone you put your trust in and who was suppose to be an ally.
I agree it's really helpful and healing to talk and write about these things and I don't even wanna think about what I'd be like if it wasn't for my choice to talk and write about such things..
I think maybe that's one reason men kill themselves more is because they are sort of conditioned by society to keep it to themselves and not talk about it so they bottle it up and it eats away at them inside. Women are also conditioned like that in ways as well but I think it's much more in men especially military men and the "warriors" who are suppose to sort of just take it all and not complain or let anyone see weakness.
And yes.. It does seem like sometimes that's the difference in that "fragile line between life and death".. Well said.
How does that stat check with the number of people that died from the communist regimes alone?
I forgot the number but what the communist regimes did is in the hundreds of millions and likewise war in the past has killed hundreds of millions so I'm sure they dwarf suicide statistics in a historical sense though I do believe these numbers are more modern and current numbers suggesting a shift and change that perhaps we have never seen before in history.. Also, I'm a lil skeptical of the numbers as well since I think things like war and other issues are often not properly reported or recorded. Though it has been claimed so I figured I should report on it, and whatever the case is.. It does seem pretty bad and horrible and I wish it wasn't so bad and horrible as it is..
First, this is a very interesting post. Suicide is a silent epidemic that few people are willing to discuss. People going through receive a lot of platitudes; but, little healing help.
Regarding people not wanting to talk about problems, from experience I've observed that people going through personal struggles find it burdensome to hear the problems/sorrows of others.
When you think about it, it makes sense. It's like piling on to what someone may be going through. This is why I highly support brief therapy or getting a life coach to help sort through and help order life for someone who's going through.
Peace.
Thanks for the feedback, I agree it does appear to be a silent epidemic especially cause so few seem willing to openly talk about it and that it's almost taboo the way many respond to the subject.
Maybe you're right in that people not wanting to talk about it just don't want any more problems on top of their plate, though I imagine if they aren't thinking about killing themselves that there's a good chance their problems aren't as severe as the people who are thinking about killing themselves and perhaps that they should try to be a lil more understanding and loving. Though I realize we're both generalizing there and that all cases are not the same and that different people have different reasons and ways of looking at things.
Peace to you as well!