By A.F. Sesay
“Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better.” unknown
Now is the time to gravitate living hearts to a very important port in our sojourn through life. How do we navigate the challenges of life without drowning in them; despite all our vulnerabilities and lacks?
Is it enough to say we are alive and be content with that. We have to know what we owe life. By the way, do we owe life anything at all? In my book, we first have to know what life is not, then what life is, then the beauty and purpose of death.
Life is not material possessions…if so how poor is the child in the womb yet how secured! We need wealth, fame, beauty and all those things that consume our life’s precious energy. But to what extent should we sacrifice for them? Do we kill ourselves just because we were deprived of some of life’s wants? What then would have been our reaction if we were deprived of the very life that serves as a vessel for these transient possessions we are so passionate about? What if I call them distractions, will you pardon me? In most cases, they are the very distractions that divert us from seeing the true beauty that life can offer us.The very things that prevent us from dancing in the rain and basking in the flora and fauna that surround us.
Life is beautiful…no doubt. Our task after this realization is simple: Now that we have known that life is beautiful, let’s make it beautiful for ourselves! How do we make life beautiful? Well, this has been the toil of great thinkers and and even no-thinkers ever since the science of thinking began. If their collective toil could not provide us a universal answer, then I don’t expect you to kill yourself in an attempt to find answers as to what makes for the beautiful life. Nor should you expect me to do away with my precious life to provide you an answer. Your task, don’t forget, is just to make it beautiful. A beautiful life-just to avoid all misconceptions-does not look beautiful at all. In fact, it is ugly from the outside. It means to fail and to succeed and to see every failure as another route to success. If only you were patient with all the things they said about you, if only you were concerned about the millions, if not billions, whose circumstances are worse than yours. If only…then you could have had nothing to do with depression. And depression could have given you a distance similar to the one between the South Pole and the North Pole. Why do you cry when you have a lot of people around whose tears you are capable of wiping away? You don’t have to give everything to the world before you prove your worth. Contrary to that, you have to limit yourself to only what you can do. Maybe you don’t like the world ‘limit,’ but the beautiful truth is that you can’t do more than you are capable of doing. Nobody can task you with more than you can bear. If your afflictions prove to be more than you can bear, then check your Energy Reserve. You have more than you thought you had of endurance and perseverance. Life is all about choices. Choose what is best for you and limit yourself to that.
In case you think you are NO LIMIT, then know that death has a limit for you. No matter how tall your castle is, death can and will penetrate it…with ease, of course. I don’t believe in: “if you can’t beat them, join them.”But with death I say, if you can’t beat death then be prepared to beautify it .That naturally takes us to another turn in this voyage: How do we beautify something as ugly as death? Is that the question on your mind? Then please don’t let death know you hold such a bad opinion of him, because he may take revenge. Death is a friend to those who know the purpose it serves. Death is reminder that we don’t have all the resources at our disposal. So we should make the most of what we have and as a matter of fact, we should be prompt. Death means we can’t live in pain, anguish, depression and worries forever and ever. It means every pain is just for a while. It also means that Israelis will not live in bondage forever. Pharaoh will die one day…and indeed he died. Death means there is always a relief at the end. It also means there is either light or grave at the end of the tunnel. But death does not mean we can put an end to our own difficulties in such an unacceptable way as suicide! Suicide is not fun for this simple reason: Just because death comes at the end does not mean it is better than what preceded it. If so, then life would have been the the Paradise for every embryo. But life ,for all the space it provides us, is usually more insecure than the womb. So don’t take your suicide as a refuge from life. Death is not ready to do you that favour. Death through suicide means you never appreciated the beauty in the sky, the rivers, the gardens, the smiles and the pains Mummy and all your loved ones went through to make you happy. It means you were just another fool who hurriedly passed through life without trying to understand what it means. For who could be more foolish than the one who learnt how to sleep and wake up but not how to make the very best of the very mechanism that defines his/her todays and tomorrows-life? So be happy, smile for me and the person next to you and never think your life is useless. You matter a lot that is why I took the time to write you this. I am grateful that the Most High gave me the ability and energy to make you happy and I am happy you caused me to make somebody happy.
And because I am mentioning happiness for the fourth time in less than five seconds, I am sure we are ending it on a happy note:)
A.F. Sesay can be reached via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com
