Tag: Suicide

When Emotions Spill

As I decided to write this piece, I went in search of a quote I could use as an opener. This quote literally jumped at me and I think it captures the essence of what I am about to address.

“Having anxiety and depression is like being scared and tired at the same time. It’s the fear of failure, but no urge to be productive. It’s wanting friends but hate socializing. It’s wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be lonely. It’s feeling everything at once then feeling paralyzingly numb.”

—Culled from healthyplace.com

My undergraduate class has a WhatsApp group where we do everything from bonding to fighting to serious debating. Yesterday, someone brought up an issue about euthanasia, which then morphed into a discourse on depression and possible reasons for a person to want to end his/her life. This discourse unlocked Pandora’s box. Continue reading “When Emotions Spill” →

Rampage: A String of Needless Killings

The small town of Roanoke, somewhere in the US state of Virginia has suddenly had its low-key image forcibly shattered. When its better-known neighbour, Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech, was shoved into the spotlight by a lethal murder-suicide in 2007, Roanoke had no inkling that it would one day face the same reckless fury. On Wednesday, 26 August, a gunman gave TV viewers a gross spectacle—live killing on television. Sadly, public shootings have become synonymous with gun-toting Americans. Continue reading “Rampage: A String of Needless Killings” →

A Silent Killer

This week, in a peaceful community in Cross River State, an anomaly occurred. A vivacious young man committed suicide. It’s an anomaly because Nigerians are not known for suicides. Our propensity to hope is matchless. A recent poll ranked Nigeria as the “most positive country”. How then do we now have a suicide on our hands? Continue reading “A Silent Killer” →