It’s been 4 weeks since he ‘passed away’ or ‘ended his own life’.

I still cannot bring myself to say or hear or even think, he ‘died’ or ‘killed himself’. It sounds just too harsh and violent. Unbearably so! Or is it because it implicates me in some way? Do I think that it sounds like I am the cause, directly or indirectly, considering we were the only 2 people in the house and I was his prime carer? It could also be because somehow in the ‘developed’ world that we live in, a ‘suicide’ in any family is perceived as shameful. People are hesitant to talk about it.

In the UK, suicide remains the commonest cause of death in men under the age of 35 years.

In 2010, as many as 5700 people in the UK died by suicide which makes it 15-16 per day!

A couple of decades ago, it was the same case with AIDS as people did not speak about sex. We could address the issue when we started speaking about it openly.

Isn’t it time we start talking about ‘suicide’?

What a waste it is to have all these young people loose their lives! Do we not need to address this issue as individuals, communities and society as a whole? Why should it only be up to the Samaritans and psychiatrists?