… because I find it hard to believe that “the world would be much different place without you”
I’m sure many of us have heard this phrase before that we hear people say to others in an attempt to try and prevent them from taking their own life. However, if I was standing on the edge and ready to jump and someone said that to me I’m afraid that it wouldn’t persuade me to not kill myself because I’m pretty sure I would respond with something like: “The World? The World will remain the same. It will continue to spin on its axis. It will continue to revolve around the sun!! HUMANS WILL STILL CONTINUE TO BE CRUEL TO EACH OTHER AND OTHER ANIMALS!!!! People die every day whether by suicide or other means. The world as a whole will still be the same piece of rock, metal, and water drifting around a superheated ball of plasma.” And then I would probably just jump. What scares me is that I have tried to kill myself in the past and I’m afraid that someone saying that to me wouldn’t give me any reassurance if I were in a situation like this again. What I’m trying to say is that saying something like that to someone like me would most likely make things worse because none of us really do matter on the geological or cosmic scale. I know this isn’t anything positive, but what do you think? Is this something that we should continue to say to someone who is suicidal or do you think that we need to say something else to them? Your opinions would really be appreciated.
3 comments
I’ve never had anyone say that to me, but if someone did I would probably just laugh at them.
It’s your basic platitude, similar to the “You Matter” signs phenomenon cropping up lately. Its just people attempting to propagate kindness in order to feel better about themselves, their situations, etc. Greater people than I have lived and died, whose names are recorded in the history books and will always be remembered…they came and went, they made their impact on life, and now here we are, throwing each other to the ground for failing to wear face masks, and stealing from the poor because we can. Ones absence may impact another’s perception of the world’s goodness or lack thereof, but simply existing does nothing to change the nature of “the world.” The world is a cold, savage place, there are a few moments of contentment and joy mixed in, but for the most part, it’s a nasty mess. I can’t change that.
The world WOULD be a much different place without you, and I’ll explain how.
Imagine you were to go back 100 years and change 1 tiny, “insignificant” thing. For example, delay a train by exactly 5 seconds. Now let’s stop and consider exactly how this would affect the world. A random passenger would miss a connecting train by 5 seconds and miss his appointment, and as a result he might miss a career opportunity, or miss meeting his future wife and mother to their children, or maybe even miss a “Dont Walk” sign by 5 seconds and cause a car crash, and each of these possible results would themselves split into infinite possibilities of alternate outcomes, multiplied infinite times every second that follows.
100 years later, how do you suppose the world might be different, based on that train being 5 seconds late to the station?
Now instead of merely a train being late 5 seconds, consider your ENTIRE LIFE ending. Think of the ripples, the earthquakes in time that would result, and in 100 years think of how much your seemingly insignificant suicide would have an effect.
Of course the response to this musing is that, yes, there would be a huge impact, but the impact would be equally enormous if we choose to live rather than die. Sure. But that’s not my point. My point is that NOTHING is insignificant. Every event, every beat of a butterfly’s wing, has a profound, rippling effect in time (yeah, watch the movie). And despite how it may feel, you are enormously significant. Try to do the best you can with your life. Once an event happens, we can’t take it back.