This idea is comparable similar to Percy’s idea that one true cure for depression is the contemplation of suicide as both draw upon the necessity of reflecting back upon your lives. While contemplating suicide, an individual will seriously reflect on their experiences up to that moment in their life. Using that information, they must then decide whether to stop or continue to exist in the world. Both options return the power back into the individual, because ultimately they are the only ones who can make that decision. If they cease to exist, they will no longer feel anything. Though if they decide to continue living, then they set the terms of their life and free themselves. Upon this point of reflection, I believe that they attempt to find a pattern within their experiences in order to have direction …show more content…
In the poem “How to Get Your Gun Safely Out of Your Mouth”, Jamaal May wrote from the perspective of bystander of someone at the point of truly contemplating suicide. Throughout the poem, May continued to purposely give excuses to commit suicide after just one more mundane task. But, after each task he found another excuse to complete another task. Upon reaching the end of the poem, May wrote, “...there is still time--relax the jaw that holds the barrel in place, remove the gun, point to heaven, and squeeze until the clip is empty like the chamber” (May 36). The continuous excuses of other tasks gave him more to truly contemplate suicide and caused him not to make a rash decision. Instead, the additional time allowed him to reflect upon his life and reach the realization that he still has more of his life to live. Through this contemplation, those considering suicide should hopefully reach some level of self-understanding that would persuade them into continue living, while gaining some deeper understanding of
When individuals face obstacles in life, there is often two ways to respond to those hardships: some people choose to escape from the reality and live in an illusive world. Others choose to fight against the adversities and find a solution to solve the problems. These two ways may lead the individuals to a whole new perception. Those people who decide to escape may find themselves trapped into a worse or even disastrous situation and eventually lose all of their perceptions and hops to the world, and those who choose to fight against the obstacles may find themselves a good solution to the tragic world and turn their hopelessness into hopes. Margaret Laurence in her short story Horses of the Night discusses the idea of how individual’s responses
Wilson also demonstrates that not all individuals follow one path in life. That when one comes to the end of one road, a rebirth may be necessary to continue down another road, such as Martha Pentecost and Herald Loomis had to discover. Wilson also shows the reader that acceptance of the death of an old life can lead to illumination, rebirth, and the possibility of love in ones new life.
While buried, so deep beneath the cavity of adversity, finding hope is nearly impossible. But, it is the ability of decisions that aids as the last gleam of hope retrievable. After facing many struggles, it becomes almost involuntary for someone to put up a guard. With using that strategy, and the transgression of time without progress, there’s a certain ignition of comprehension. Change needs to occur, and a complete remedy of that
An individual’s meaning or purpose in life cannot truly be realized unless they are faced with a situation in which their course of action directly affects their future. In most cases, humankind is forced to face an extreme circumstance when something comes to an end, whether it be positive or negative, for that ending means that change is inevitable and approaching. Thus, life becomes more meaningful as something ends, for people are forced to realize what is truly important to them as well as the idea that nothing lasts forever. Individuals must choose which of the aspects and goals of their lives are the most significant and should be focused on as they approach a resolution, as can be seen in the Gawain Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Therefore, due to the finality of an ending and the uncertainty of the following events, humankind can reveal what they believe are the
You limit yourself from experiencing life in all of its wonderful complexity’’. In other words, this text is trying to say that positive thinking gets in the way of seeing the full truth or the whole part of life and it takes away the experience of realizing the bad things, the mistakes you make. However, these people are wrong because by dreaming about a life we want or imagine to have is setting goals for ourselves.
The seemingly-proud, handsome boy sits upright in his wooden desk chair. There is no noise only the sound of his rapidly beating heart pounding against his chest. The teenager clutches the metal barrel tightly and points the barrel of the gun at his head. He feels the chilling touch from the mouth of the gun on his warm flesh. Were there cruel judgements made about him from his so-called friends? Did he feel a great loneliness? Did his mind shout out that, Death will be my savior”? It is said that a person alone is in poor company. In the poem “Richard Cory” written by Edwin Arlington Richardson and in the song, “Pumped Up Kicks” by Mark Foster, both mention a gun being used by an isolated individual to deal with dark, hurtful thoughts and putting an end to them all by pulling the trigger. In both the “Richard Cory” poem and in the “Pumped Up Kicks” song there is a shared tone about isolated individuals feel lonesome and odd when one does not fit in with their community. Also, in the poem and in the song a revealing ironic message is revealed about a
Exploring the duality of memory; how we perceive the past, learning about the duality of the present; how we are constantly between the expectation of the future and past experience, as well as coming to the realization of the duality of life and death; how we are always living and dying at the same time. We are constantly in a state of suspension between dual experiences, whether they be life and death, love and loss, hot and cold, fast and slow, close and far, or past and future. There is no differentiating between them as they are all interconnected and depend on each other for their own existence. There would not be one without the other and we cannot appreciate the good without the bad. Life comes with infinite possibilities and even more ways to experience them, so we must take it all in with acceptance and appreciate the suspension act of life while we
He notes two instances of men who were planning on committing suicide who, once they were able to find meaning in their lives and their futures, were able to find the will to live. For one of the men, this was his child waiting for him in a foreign country, for the other it was finishing his life’s work (79). Clearly, discovering meaning in their lives aided them in surviving the suffering that they faced.
In a study released by Brown University, their psychology department shed some light on common myths and facts surrounded suicide. These m...
Joshua Nealy, a prominent medical school graduate, died last night from complications of losing his dream of becoming a practicing physician. He was 39 years-old. Soft-spoken and borderline obsessive, Joshua never looked the part of a “professional”, but, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the last three years of pursuit of his long reputed dream profession, a position, which he spent nearly 10 years attaining. Sadly, the protracted search ended this past March 18th in complete and utter failure. Although in certain defeat, the courageous Nealy secretly clung to the belief that life is merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. It’s not a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of her dear friend, Emily, the girlfriend turned fiancé and dPT expert of Berkshire County, described Joshua as a changed man in the last years of his life. "Things were worse for him; not following his dream left him mostly lifeless, uninspired," Sammons noted. Ultimately, Joshua concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess the powerful ability to change ourselves and the world around us; the choice to make ours from nothingness.
Suicide is the eleventh most common cause of death in the United States. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a person takes their own life once every fourteen minutes in the United States (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP], 2011). Still, with suicide rates so high, suicide is a taboo topic in our society. Though suicide is intended to end one person’s pain, it causes an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering to loved ones close to the deceased.
“Approximately every 18 minutes, someone in the United State commits suicide” (Flanders 3). Ranked tenth in leading causes of death in the United States, suicide claims the lives of more than thirty thousand people a year (Flanders 3). Recently, there has been an increase in self-destructive behavior among young adults (Flanders 3). “Almost everyone in the United States has been touched in some way by suicide” (Flanders 20). By studying the social issue of suicide, one can identify the causes and help prevent more deaths.
“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain” (I-10). Ending a life is a big step in the wrong direction for most. Suicide is the killing of oneself. Suicide happens every day, and everyday a family’s life is changed. Something needs to be done to raise awareness of that startling fact. Suicide is a much bigger problem than society will admit; the causes, methods, and prevention need to be discussed more openly.
Deep in the minds of human beings lies a vast ocean of emotions and experiences. The human mind is often misconstrued and simplified by those who possess one, but delving deeper into the mind and it’s processes you see a whole other world that is veiled beneath the surface. One of the most famous examples of the human mind is the image of an iceberg, what is on the surface is so minimal compared to the immense body that lies underneath. Sigmund Freud was the father of psychoanalysis and believed in the idea of the unconscious and subconscious that help power who we are. Through psychoanalysis Freud began to reclaim the self as an individual and stressed the importance of the external world and it’s direct role with the internal realm of an individual. Although it was originally found to be a sort of therapy for those with mental illnesses, it has an interesting and analytical and philosophical view of the self, and through this spawned new beliefs in philosophy. Through the establishment of the id, superego, and ego, and the past’s affect on the shaping the present state of the self, psychoanalysis reclaims the self for an individual and is successful in doing so.
In the real world, humans tend to focus on things that have least importance and become desensitized towards knowing their real goal in life, thus being able to distinguish their true identities. The way to raise this awareness is to map out one’s intentions, abilities, experiences and behavior such as strategizing a game plan. Realizing that you are only given one life, you try to make the most out of it and pass on your legacy and some sort of guideline to your kids. Humans also tend to get lost in the present existence here on earth...