I witnessed a horrible sight one evening on the way to work at my previous job. As I got out of my friend’s car, I saw a group of people standing at the gate leading to the underground car park beneath my workplace. As I approached I saw an ambulance and a Garda car parked beside, and grew even more curious to see what was happening – even though my heart was fearing the worst.
Over the heads of the crowd, I saw medics struggling to resuscitate a half-naked body that seemed lifeless on the cold ground. Speculation was rife among the gathered onlookers, but one word was common – attempted suicide.
Ever since that fateful evening, that young man’s death has kept me wondering why some people take things to the extreme. There is no argument that the cause of most suicides is mental depression. You need no expert to prove how vulnerable the human spirit can be in the face problems that seem insurmountable, while in turn the invitation to take one’s life becomes more and more real.
I am not a psychologist, but my natural instinct tells me that depression is as dangerous as death. It is a great human worry because of its hydra-headed nature. It comes in the disguise of poverty amidst plenty, of segregation, of unnecessary pressure and other issues that have a calamitous affect on the victim’s state of mind.
From legal residents to asylum seekers, the means of survival is tightening by the non-availability of work and the proposed cutbacks in social services. In the workplace, many people are put under undue pressure just for not being Irish, while some Government agents seem to think that immigrants are partly to blame for Ireland’s economic woes.
For sure, our immigration laws are being tightened, which only serves to reinforce this opinion. Students are now threatened with new stricter visa regulations in addition to high college fees. Asylum seekers are living on the edge as deportation become State policy while the full anger of the economic crisis hits them hardest. Many cannot bear such hardship in the midst of confusion over their residential status.
But those of us teetering on the brink should think twice, as there are people and organisations out there who are ready to listen. Suicide isn’t the answer – it only makes things worse for your loved ones and those who care about humanity. The Government, too, should take note of the psychological aspect of this depression and help to save lives.
But most of all, victims of depression should understand that the strength of a human does not lie in not falling, but in rising each time he falls.
Ukachukwu Okorie is originally from Nigeria and writes weekly for Metro Éireann. Visit his website at www.olumouka.com
