This may offend some so if it does I am apologizing in advance.
In a lot of cases when people post on here about their troubles and desire to die some remind them of people in comparatively worse situations. And for them to be thankful that they are not dealing with that. I do not disagree with that per se.
Still I wonder what it means when globally we consider adequate food, shelter, water, education, transport, and respectful treatment by other people a luxury.
We push and refuse to accept anything except in so many areas in life except for basic human needs. Of course I know we cannot force a perspective upon people but still it makes not one iota of sense that people are driven to the point to want to end their lives.
Just like ones who struggle to live through all kinds of turmoil because their pain is so normal to them they would rather go through it than die because it proves they are alive.
Yes nature is terrible. But animals do not have the skills that we as humans do. And usually they do not suffer but die or are killed rather quickly as a result of the food chain. Even the apex predators do not spend years suffering through pain as humans do.
We have multi ton machines that can fly us around the world faster than sound. We have cellphones that have uncounted functionality. We have the breakthroughs in medical science. Cars than can park themselves. Geolocation tech that pretty much makes it possible to track anyone. The internet which allows transactions and communication from the comfort of home , office, or transport. Entertainment that sucks us in with its ingenuity.
Yet we still have people in the world lacking in basic necessities of the physical, mental, and emotional.  The physical lack making its sufferers in many cases claw and cling to their harsh existence, and the mental and emotional making people wallow in self hate and cry out with the power of a supernova for help or wish for death. And those who suffer all three have the worst lot of all in comparison.
And yet we refer to our global society as being civilized when most of what we have mastered are treatments and toys and not a way to actually fix humanity’s base and make suffering a thing of the past mostly if not completely.
And the best thing we have is to tell people to change their perception or develop coping skills because guess what…. everyone is royally screwed and the only way to live is to have a buffer or band aid.
When will we as a species transcend this needless suffering because despite claims to the contrary, much of it does not teach any useful lessons. The only lesson in many cases is how to endure more and cope more which is not a fix.
I bid you adieu and pleasant day.
7 comments
@U.N. Owen; I like your question “when will we as a species transcend this needless suffering”? That’s an old question which plenty of religious teachers and philosophers before me have answered with their own slant/twist.
The masses of humanity have always had to suffer. You’re born, you live, and then you die. I suppose the key to happiness during the living phase is to find some sort of distraction that makes existence palatable. Once somebody has exhausted all hope for a better future, and sees no other options that could result in a meaningful tomorrow, pulling the plug seems like a rational decision.
Your comment about changing one’s perspective rings true as well. Focusing on the pursuit of some goal or adopting a mindset that gives one a sense of purpose can make life worth living. Even if attaining the goal is ultimately a hollow victory in the end, at least the the thrill of the hunt makes life bearable during the process.
I enjoy reading your essays, thanks.
I guess I just hope that one day humanity can get to a level where most or all time can be spent pursuing pleasure and learning to one’s full capacity without the burden of pain.
Where actions and goals are not a distraction from suffering, but just purely things that can be done easily and simply all towards benevolent ends.
A world of pleasure, new knowledge, and benevolence… without the pain… would be quite a world indeed.
The global situation is symptomatic of the individual situation. When we cease from giving power to what they show on CNN and realize we can create and choose to focus on what ever we want, we can right now start to shift things in a more positive direction.
It doesn’t help that TV and the media only show things wrong in the world…which is a perspective. The positive of that, is there is great opportunity for many people to be of service…and I’ve seen tons of smiling children because of the help given. We need to careful to not think everything’s a mess. There are a few in power who want to keep things that way. But…hey, Nissan put out an all electric car. I choose to focus on that, and that the world will continue to build on that as we focus on what we want and not on the so called reality that is presented to us daily through advertising and social media.
What I am doing is putting up an imaginary barrier which I hope will isolate myself to the extent I can function within the confines of an area I am happy to live, a job I am satisfied doing and people I come into contact with through choice and not necessity.
I have tried to comlartmentalize things… and found that there is an awful lot of overlap. Life isn’t / wasn’t as neat and tidy as I tried to make it.
I have studied this society as much as I can, thought about our situation as much as I can, but can never come up with a solution to anything. In my own life though, I can come up with pretty good solutions to my problems, and if I can’t, I end up comfortably numb. Good song by Pink Floyd, by the way. I’ve decided to clock out this society and the dysfunction, and focus on my future and present a little more. I think one of these days I’ll be a hermit, and it will be a pretty good life. When I think my work here is done, I will end my own life. Im not waiting around for some invisible God to kill us all, and Im not going to study this society, get involved in politics, and end up with *** for brains. My solution is isolation, then death. And They All ‘Lived’ Happily Ever After.