I am referring to the mythology surrounding suicide attempts and self harm perpetuated by popular media, shrinks and the medical profession, churches and other religious groups, even government institutions. I won't list all of them, only those I have personally been a target of. You cannot judge me unless you have been in my shoes walking my path, and since no one on this planet has done this, then no one on this planet nor even on other planets are qualified to judge me. I don't care how many qualifications you have behind your name nor what religion you belong to. Whatever is learned in the classroom or lecture theater there is no substitute for life experience, and since none of you "professionals" have experienced my life, none of you are qualified to judge me. And as for practitioners of religions, you often refer to the certain religious texts. All such texts are open to interpretations, and the interpretations offered by popular religions are very often outside of the original intent and purposes of the texts in question and are therefore incorrect and inappropriately applied.
Anyway.... the myths and facts....
MYTH Self harm and suicide attempts are the same.
FACT Both are different critters. Self harm is NOT suicide attempt. I was not attempting suicide when I was banging my head against the wall in my childhood, nor was I attempting suicide when I was banging myself during my teen years. One reason for self harming is numbness or lack of feelings. Whether we are alive is defined by whether we can feel anything, lack of feeling equates to death. So we self harm until we can start to feel again and therefore to know that we are alive. So we self harm to LIVE and NOT TO DIE!!!!! The remainder of the myths relates to both self harm and suicide attempts partly because of the first myth above. I will address them as "suicide attempts" but unless I say otherwise it can also be applied to self harm.
MYTH Suicide attempt is an attention seeking exercise.
FACT We are NOT attention seekers. Most people who attempts suicide or self harm tries to hide their injuries or pass them off as accidents, indeed we lie to cover for our injuries. This is hardly the action of one who is "attention seeking". Self harm is often confused with the EMO sub-culture. To be sure self harm is a mark of being an EMO therefore members of this subculture often share their self harm exploits with their peers, publish them on social networking sites and other online forums, and otherwise drawing attention to them. This is purely an EMO thingy. The vast majority of self harmers and those who attempts suicide are NOT EMOs and they go out of their way to hide their injuries, such as wearing long sleeves in summer, passing off their injuries as accidents and otherwise lying about them, and many does not even tell their close family members. This is hardly the action of one who is "seeking attention"!!!
MYTH Suicide attempt is a "cry for help"
FACT If we ever wanted to "cry for help" we can think of 1000 other ways of doing so aside from attempting suicide! Similarly self harm is NOT a "cry for help" but a stress coping mechanism that is often attempted to be kept secret (see above myth). However we attempt suicide because we intend to commit suicide, and when dead we are hardly in a position to accept any "help" that we may be allegedly "crying for"!!
MYTH Those who talks about suicide never commits suicide
FACT Various statistics shows that a high percentage of people talking about suicide eventually carries out the act. It is like anything in life. For example, those talking about taking an overseas vacation eventually book a vacation overseas. Or, those who talks about attending a football match eventually gets around to purchasing the tickets and attending such a match. Suicide talk is no different, those who talks about it eventually carries out the act.
MYTH Suicide attempted or otherwise is a form of revenge
FACT If I wanted revenge against someone I certainly would not give up my life for it. Indeed the target of my revenge would be thought as one who would celebrate my passing away. Therefore if I wanted revenge against someone, I am more likely to do so BY STAYING ALIVE!!!!!
MYTH Suicidal people are selfish
FACT Everyone is inherently selfish. We all on some level have ulterior motives. Even Mother Theresa, her motive being a better life in Heaven. Indeed every Christian has this ulterior motive, they join the religion so to avoid the prospect of an eternity of torment in hell, and they give their lives to the faith often at great cost to themselves simply in the expectation of "greater rewards" in "Heaven". Not everyone is religious but everyone is inherently selfish. We have all quit something because we can no longer cope with it. People quit their jobs because they can no longer cope with it, and such people are often praised as "ambitious" and "seeking to better themselves". People quit their clubs, church, teams, etc because they can no longer cope with the current condition. These people are often praised as being willing to "leave the past behind" and "trying new things" or "accepting new challenges". Many people quit marriages and relationships because they can no longer cope, and even such people are often praised as "standing up for themselves", "refusing to be a doormat" and other similar kind of praises. Well it can be said that suicide is the ultimate form of quitting, we attempt suicide because we can no longer cope with life in general and we perhaps believe or hope for a better life "on the other side" or at least a cessation of life in total therefore no longer feeling pain. We are no more "selfish" than anyone else.
MYTH Suicide attempt a method of persuasion
FACT We attempt suicide because we wish to END our lives and therefore anything we allegedly trying to "persuade" will be no longer relevant!! If I wanted to try persuade someone to do something for me I certainly would not choose attempted suicide or even self harm as such a method! I have other ways to persuade someone to do something for me, these are more effective than suicide attempts or self harm!!
MYTH Suicidal people are "weak" or have "less character" or otherwise judged as being of a "lesser person" than everyone else.
FACT We are all wired differently and are a product of both our genetics and our environments past and present. Everyone can play Tennis but nor everyone can reach Wimbledon. Or, everyone can compete in Athletics but not everyone can compete in the Olympic Games. This does not make unsuccessful athletes any "less worthy". Those not good at Athletics may perhaps excel at ballet, or music, or art. In life we all at least originally had hopes and dreams. No one starts out in life with the intention of committing suicide. But due to the chaos of the universe (or however you like to put it) some of us are given the short end of the stick in life!! For example nearly everyone who has experienced rape or other forms of abuse are suicidal, they cannot cope with living with such violations of their personal space. I have been a victim of abuse, this is one reason for my suicidal tendencies, I simply cannot cope with living with the consequences of such abuse at the hand of one who pretended to be my "father" (not my REAL father). However I am good at many other things. I am gifted in Science especially Physics and fields related to Astronomy, Cosmology, etc. I am also, according to some, good at writing stories!!! I am also good at computers and I can build my own computer, indeed my current computer was built by myself and is working very well thankyou very much!!!!! Therefore I am no less "worthy" nor have "less character" than any other average person.
Well that is about all for now..... I will add to it if anything else comes up. But I will NEVER allow anyone to pass judgment on me regardless of their motivations. No one on this planet is qualified to judge me, so..... DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
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