There is a lot of talk about terrorism and violence here in the United States. But, let’s keep in mind that 30,000 people starve to death every day.
One term that we should focus on to really get a different grip on the problem is “suicide bomber.” It could be suicide shooter or suicide family massacre or suicide road rage or suicide overdose. Everyone focuses on the word bomber or shooter.
Wrong.
It’s suicide, stupid!
So much of what is wrong with the world is about suicidal thinking. Even countries get desperate enough to look suicidal.
Let’s settle in for a moment and think about suicidal thinking. Pretend you’re upset and depressed and are now, maybe after years of thinking, serious about committing suicide. How to commit suicide is a necessary decision. Maybe your life will have meaning in your death.
In a past age, you could calmly walk out into the frozen tundra like the elderly Inuit women with no teeth left to chew leather, who no longer had any survival value.
But no, usually a suicidal person wants to make a statement. Usually someone will be punished, physically or emotionally, in some way by the suicide.
Now maybe strapping on a bomb to go blow up some people is what you might choose, because of what has made you suicidal in the first place. Maybe it’s getting your guns and killing all your classmates or family while you die. Maybe it’s killing your enemies at work. Maybe it’s joining Isis, a sure death. Maybe you hate being gay, but you want everyone to think your suicide was about Isis.
At the root of suicidal thinking is the surety that life sucks and no possible positive future can be envisioned. All is lost. Life is not worth living. You are angry and you want to punish someone with your suicidal act.
The point here is that successful suicide may take many and varied forms. But the fact in all cases is that it’s time for you to die, and maybe you need to take someone with you.
What we tend to focus on, what we want to know, is the story that the suicider wants us to believe. They may not know or understand the true reasoning behind their suicidal actions.
When life becomes unbearable, suicide is an obvious answer. It may be forbidden. It may be rewarded. All in the fanciful thinking of religion, whether personal or institutional.
Is it really surprising that in this country, where 95 percent of the people claim to believe in God, that there is so little compassion for an individual who decides to commit suicide quietly or extravagantly.
Are we so in denial about just how terrible life can feel, that we can be so ruthless in our thinking about the terrorist actions of a suicidal bomber. The president kills more people with bombs than any suicidal bomber.
There are so few other actions that a hopeless individual can take that can have so much impact on those left behind or on the culture as a whole.
Teenagers who have never been held as a sacred child have nothing left to live for.
Mothers and fathers whose children have been ripped apart by an enemy nation have nothing left to live for.
Adults who have been rejected and persecuted all of their lives and expect to receive the same for the rest of their lives have nothing left to live for.
Young men with no hope of a job or a wife or a future with any happiness have nothing left to live for.
Family members whose family is suffering and starving to death and who can be financially rewarded for sacrificing that life have nothing left to live for.
The answer to ending terrorism is not bombs and bullets. The answer lies in helping raise people’s standard of living. Giving hope, giving nourishment, giving shelter will give people something to live for.
When desperate people’s lives are lifted out of starvation and devastation, they will have something to live for.
When cultures become more focused on compassionate living over anxiety-driven consumerism and control over others, that will be a secure life, and then we will all have more to live for.
John Bailey lives in Greenfield.