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SUICIDE
Its Causes And Cure
by
Leslie
L.
McCullough
Suicide always comes with a jolt. Even when it occurs
to the sick or elderly, there is the init ial shock- then the awful emptiness.
W
hy a re so many,
worldwide, choos–
ing suic ide as the
solu t ion to li fe's
problems?
Why is it, with so much to
live for, t hat so many in t he
prosperous nations are not will–
ing to livc out t heir lives?
We read of the plight of the poor
Haitians or the Vietnamese boat
people who risk life and limb in
leaky, dilapidated old boats in a
frantic attempt to flee the poverty
or the oppression of their country
for the abundance and freedom of
the outside world. They do not
choose death as an escape. But
their despair is so g reat they risk
death in attempt ing to fi nd a better
lije.
Yet in the countries sought out
by refugees, the lands of their
d reams, people who have enjoyed
the better life by the thousands
choose
death
as an escape.
What a paradox! In countries in
which it would seem there is li ttle
real cause for despair and worry,
people destroy themselves as a final
solution to their problems.
Suicide has become a major
problem in the ind ustrialized
nations of the Free World. But
sorne Eastern European countries
fare no better. Hungary has the
dubious honor of having the h igh–
est suicide rate in the world with
East Germany an immediate sec–
ond. Four teen other nations make
the list before the Uni ted States.
Those highest on the list are sorne
of the technologicall y and indus–
trially most advanced nat ions of the
November/ December 1982
world. They are the socialized
nations where the people should
have tbe least to wor ry about in li fe
and future.
The lowest ratings in the wor ld
are among those nat ions that would
be considered to have the least by
way of physical riches, the nations
of the Caribbean, South America
and the Philippines being at the
bottom of the rankings!
They Are Sick
Why do people in free and prosper–
ous countries hate themselves and
their lives so much that they seek
and
all
too often find in suicide
the final solution? Those in
the poorer nations of the
earth risk their very beings
in hope of obtaining free–
doro and the opportunity to
Jive as most of us do.
Why? We ask agai n. ls
there an answer?
What is missing in the lives
of so many who decide it just
isn't worth the effor t of liv–
ing? T hey indeed renect
the attit u de of t h e
ancient patriarch J ob:
" 1 am sick, sick of
life ... " (Job 10:1,
Moffatt trans l a–
tion).
T he
who le
world seems to
be sick of life.
On every hand
we hear threats
of war or fears
of future missile attacks.
Men in governments can
threaten the desolation
of whole cont inents. No
one is ready to be the
first to give in to stop it. T he world
is indeed sick!
T he leaders of this world are
becoming exact ly as God said the
descendants of ancient Israel would
become:" ... the whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint. From the
sole of the foot even unto the head
there is no soundness in it; but
wounds, and bruises, and putrifying
sores: they have not been closed, nei–
ther bound up, neither mollified
ti:
..
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with ointment" ( Isa. 1:5-6).
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This is describing the state of
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mind of our people
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today and
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