FEATURED- World Mental Health Day- Dont kill yourself.
Today is World Mental Health Day.
In conjunction with this date, governments and NGO's worldwide promote awareness on issues such as suicide and chronic depression.
Malaysians generally do not want to discuss issues such as these. It is a matter that is unpopular in public discourse, and the attitude towards it is generally apathetic.
This reluctance prevails despite an escalating number of suicides from year to year; in fact suicide is the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. 'We seem to be in a national denial,' says Professor Hussain Habil, the president of the Malaysian Psychiatric Association.
13 out of 100,000 people in Malaysia commit suicide on a yearly basis.
Our in-house psychiatrist, (who is also a magic performer for birthday parties) has suggested a few ways for self-treatment should an individual wish to end his/her life.
1. If you want to kill yourself because you think that you have a bad life- review pictures of people in Africa. They will always make you feel privileged and that you should feel thankful that your life is not one tormented by genocide, starvation or random adoptions by famous people.
Alternatively, review pictures of people in Singapore. You will always feel good about yourself.
2. If you want to kill yourself because your boy/girlfriend, husband/wife left you, write down ten things you have always hated about him/her.
Everyone has character flaws and physical defects, so rejoice because now you can look for someone better than the ugly cow/beast-thing/swamp-monster that left you.
Did your ex have some embarrassing secrets/herpes? Get it off your chest, tell your best gossip mongering untrustworthy with secrets loud-mouthed friend.
3. If you want to kill yourself because your business is failing, or other monetary catastrophies keep in mind that most major successes today failed a million times; some were even homeless.
(read about Damien Rice and Jewel)
They managed to get where they are today because they continued to live and fight on another day.
Since this was quite serious heres a picture of a ridiculous man to offset the effects.
picture- ridiculous man
4. If you want to kill yourself because you are in a cult that tells you to do so, join another cult. We recommend the cult "mismatched cheese warriors".
It preaches terrorizing the lives of people who use camembert cheese in a reckless manner (e.g. eating it with whole wheat bread instead of croissants) . Its a more fulfilling and delicious way of life.
5. If you want to kill yourself because you feel lonely and you dont have any real friends, hey, we dont either! Friends are a drag, they always need you to do stuff for them and things like that. We highly recommend a friend-less lifestyle.
Alternatively, you can ditch the people who dont care about you, and go out and meet new people. According to statistics, there are a gazillion living breathing humans out there who are also into this unhealthy needing friends lifestyle.
6. If you want to kill yourself because you are a political leader who swindled the money of his people, cheated in elections, and sent innocent people who have spoken out against you in jail, GO FOR IT!
Happy World Mental Health Day.
13 comments:
Hi
CONGRATS and keep writing!
It will give some relief from all the serious stuff going on.
Also Thanks for putting my blog as a link.
thanks. we like giving people relief. you've got a good site going on too. props to you mate!
thanks burntck!
any comments and suggestions are also welcome. we always want to improve. eat a banana today, its full of potassium goodness.
And if i want to kill myself because my eldest girl, a 10A, wants to study medicine but i have had no job for six years, so she runs to her room to cry when she decides that she will try for pharmacy, and i say in return 'but that's a drug dispenser behind a counter for the rest of your life' And the wife is working herself thin to support us and i am 50?
March 15th seems a good day; it's after CNY; finally this loafer will be able to take a load off everyone. Funeral expenses? RM30,000 for a sendoff is ridiculous; easier and much cheaper to join the tsunami victims - just take a boat ride and jump; fish food and no pipa music for three days.
But how will the aging parents take it? how will the children grow up? how will the wife suffer?
It's no joke to be in a situation where you cannot live but are also not allowed to die.
Think about that; and they say if you want to be uplifted, you need at least 500 of such lifetimes.
Live for today? what life is that?
thanks for visitig desi's place.
Just some advice to 10As girl not able to pursue medical stduies ~~ that it's NOT the end of the world~~ a bright student like her can excel in many OTHER fields -- can even turn out to be a blessing in disguiise, medeSIN's loss is maybe Nobel-prize biological breakthough for Malaysian pioneer?
Letter From Editor
To Anonymous
Dear Sir,
We did not mean to ridicule suicidal tendencies.
Our satire usually has a dark underlying tone, we take issues very seriously and we use humor as a medium to connect with the public.
I was deeply moved by your post. I know that when you are in that situation, you will always feel that people will never truly understand the pain and anguish that you are going through.
Most of the times that is true, but it does not mean that we cannot feel sincere sympathy and in turn grieve with you.
It is unfortunate that Malaysia does not have an unemployment benefit system. I have researched this matter, and apparently it is because "the corporate sector" believes that people will become dependent on "the dole" and handouts and consequently will become lazy.
This is an opinion largely held by the well-fed, who are also afraid that they will have to pay more taxes to support people in need.
There is help for poor families, but they have to be households who earn under rm460 a month. This is obviously a stupid system, not only because rm480 is equally impossible to survive on, but also because other indicators such as living standards and child per household are not factored in.
Furthermore, it is a tragedy that a 10A student has to suffer because she was born a different race. I personally believe that affirmative action is only fair when it targets the poor, and race-based policies are never justified. I am a bumiputera, and I must say sir, that I would not be sorry at all if my "privileges" were taken away tomorrow.
There are a lot of changes that have to be made in this country; people are starting to open their eyes and more importantly people are starting to take action.
It cannot be fixed in one day or anytime soon, therefore I cannot, sir, guarantee you a quick remedy to your grievances. But what I can say is that you are not unheard, and you have inspired; at the very least myself and most probably anyone who reads your post. Something has to be done, and we are responsible.
If there are tears shed, we cannot only blame our government, the blood is also on the hands of the people who fail to do anything about it.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing."
I hope that you do not ever decide to take your own life, dear sir. Not only will your family experience unbearable pain and loss at your demise, but you will be short-changing yourself.
You ARE capable of seeing this through, not only because you seem to have managed to bring up an amazing child, but because the human being is capable of anything if only he tries. That is something I believe in whole-heartedly, and I would bet on with everything I have that is of worth.
We underestimate ourselves everyday, but we forget that there are men who defied the belief that man could never fly. We forget our own personal triumphs when we are in despair.
I do not know you personally sir, I do not even know your name. But I believe that no man is worthless, and no life should be thrown away in vain.
I end this letter to you sir, with the hope that at the very least you know that there are people who would sympathize and try to understand your situation. I know that all I have said could just seem like rhetoric to you, but know that it is done with utmost sincerity.
With hope and prayers for you and your family,
the editor.
hey desi!
thanks for visiting our blog.
I hope that the girl with 10 As realizes that life is not closed for her too.
have you taken your vitamins today? you should.
i think most depress ppl are not treated in malaysia. or they not aware not totally not treated. *hiks~
yes, maslight.
the people in power are better at finding ways to drive us completely insane.
which is a useful ability to have if your job is exterminating dangerous insects.
Interesting fact: 2005, Sabah had the highest number of mental health problems in Malaysia.
thank you, the Editors, and everyone else.
What broke my heart was the other day when i saw my 80-year old dad rummaged his own wallet to find some notes to put on my daughter's study-table. He was doing that after hearing she had no money for food in school. My dad is a government retiree and an upstanding and honorable man. On the day he retired he burned all the 30 commendation letters given to him for meritorious service to country. He walks with a limp now. He worries for me too, the only one he has put through university with the meagre income he had earned. Now in turn i worry for him and my girls. My wife works from 9 in the morning until 2 in the morning, making just enough to hold us together. The last interview i went to, the man said i was too old. I thought of doing other things but it's tough with no savings and the jobs don't seem to be around anymore, or if they are, my heart goes to those who are much younger and in equal desperation. In any case, how much can one earn in a few months that will be able to help my girl at least get a chance to avoid the sort of future that her grandfather and father are going through?
My second girl came back the other day and said, daddy, i only hope for sixty eight thousand ringgit because that will pay for the culinary science course, and she says that looking a bit sad because she's bravely not admitting that she's sacrificing herself by not aiming higher when we all know she can too. I don't even have sixty eight sens.
I've coldly analyzed matters, even to the extent of working out why it has happened. I put it that since this life started, i've made a total of eight mistakes. Just eight, i look skyward. Nine, if you want to include that morning when i threw an iceball down from the classroom back in the early '60s. Somehow it must be some payback time - that would explain why it has been such a sharp vertical drop so suddenly and at no worser a time in this life. I've calculated the pain from their loss if i'm gone against the total savings if i am not around to use up a few ringgit a day, plus future medical costs (like a stroke or glaucoma). I've worked out the savings in funeral expenses if i should just jump. Somehow this is psyching myself, i know. I looked at the water before, twice. One was really deep - in some ocean, the other was really dirty - in some harbour. I read somewhere that after the Kobe earthquake, the older ones who had survived just died so that the younger ones would have lesser load to start again. Life sucks big time.
I am sorry for writing all this in your web-site. If there's one lesson for me out of this life, it shows that everything is so fragile. The hardest thing to do is to try and be cold inside in order to find the reason to go on, when one's nature from the very beginning has always been warm.
I think you all are good people and i will try not to trouble you anymore; i am just writing here so that later if i do it, i can say to myself the matter has been discussed with others, so nothing more to say.
and i have just wiped my eyes after reading your posts again.
thank you, and good bye.
Dear Sir,
Firstly, you are not "bothering" us by posting on this website. It is a learning experience, and we value any form of interaction with our readers.
I know that you may feel that leaving your family would help take a burden off their shoulders.
Maybe according to cold, rational calculations, there would be monetary benefit.
But human beings are not cold, rational beings. They might gain a little more money to be spent for other things you deem more important for them, but they will lose something irreplaceable, a father and a husband.
You can always look for money. Life may be harsh when we lack material wealth, but at the end of the day what we crave and need the most are our loved ones.
And in the bigger scope of life, your daughter does not have to choose a specific profession of go to a certain university to succeed or be happy.
Bill Gates dropped out of school. The makers of Apple computer did it while they were still in college. At least 2 of the wealthiest people in Malaysia do not have formal education. Degrees are simply pieces of paper that can send you in certain directions.
But we forget that there are a million directions to choose from.
Sir, it may not seem like it right now, but life is just too precious to let go.
I think sometimes, when we are haunted by our troubles, we are blind to life's beauty and blessings.
In my eyes, what I saw that was beautiful in your last letter was your fathers love for his grand daughter, and your daughters love for you.
And if you do not care for yourself, think of your children and what you will be taking away from them.
Because it is something they will have to live without for the rest of their lives, and no matter how hard they work, they will not be able to pay enough to get their father back.
I hope that you make the right decision.
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