Over the years, we have seen countless stories reported in the media of some form of violence, with women especially being at the receiving end of the beatings; and, in some cases, even ending up dead.
The tragic murder/suicide on Monday at Long Creek on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway is one such case where a rocky relationship has ended in a gruesome death.
This was the similar ending to the relationship between 25-year-old Nicholas Low-a-Chee and his wife, 27-year-old Elizbeth Sasha Dass Low-a-Chee, in January. Shortly before that, Attorney-at-law Asasha Ramzan died at the hands of her husband Peter Charles in yet another murder/suicide.
When life has become a burden too heavy to bear, some persons do not have the courage or strength, or spiritual fortitude, to overcome an urge to seek a place they think may offer escape from their pain or problems.
They think – that is, if they are thinking at all, and not merely acting on primal emotion – that the place they have in mind would provide a final solution to all that is ailing them. Suicide is one of the most selfish and cruel acts that any human being can commit, because the lifelong burden of pain and blame that relatives and loved ones carry to their graves robs them also of their lives, or diminishes the quality of their lives.
The link between suicide and depression indicates that intervention in the lives of those who display suicidal tendencies is a dire necessity, because depression is a disease that predisposes suicidal tendencies. Sometimes someone who decides to end his/her life is saved, and has a second chance at living their life to the full and natural end. They discover that so many challenges lead to higher places in life that they come to the realisation that their initial response to pain had not been a solution – final or otherwise – but merely a precipitator of problems and a source of unending pain for loved ones.
Persons who had opted for this apparent resolution to their problems, whether they died the same time or many days afterwards, had committed the most selfish act; because they had paid no heed to their obligations to parents and other relatives who loved them, or are dependent on them for anything.
Some time ago, there was also a spate of actual and attempted suicides in Guyana, especially in rural areas; and the authorities seem perplexed as to how to deal with what is emerging as an epidemic.
There often is need for merely a listening ear to diffuse unbearable emotions, and a caring person to advise that this final act of taking one’s own life leaves many unresolved problems for others. The agony of the moment, that precipitates that momentous and tragic act that writes the final episode of one’s life by one’s own actions, could be gradually reduced to manageable proportions if there is a confidante or someone to whom the afflicted can relate, and in whom they can confide.
Research has determined suicide in Guyana is a serious social problem, as Guyana is ranked high in suicides per capita worldwide.
The most famous case of suicide in Guyana was the mass suicide of over 900 members of Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple in 1978, although some sources regard that event as mass murder. Jim Jones, the leader of this cult, and his followers were all Americans who had created a commune in Guyana’s jungles.
Over the years, the United Nations has been pushing countries towards implementing proactive measures to combat violence against women and children. To its credit, Guyana’s legislators have implemented some of these recommendations, which include criminalising gender-based violence, massive public awareness campaigns, and providing training to equip both men and women to act as first responders and to support victims of the scourge at the community level.
Yet, we see headlines in our press with women being brutalised and murdered. It is time that everyone be proactive in response to these scourges of violence and suicide.
