SUICIDES AS QUAKE-REALITIES SINK IN

Guest Post by Neil Verwey:

A trickle of suicides in the region, devastated by the March 11 M9.0 earthquake and tsunami, may soon become a river -- the farmer who hanged himself, distressed about a cabbage harvest ruined by radioactive fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; the overworked government worker near the same complex who took his own life; the father who killed himself after a fruitless search for his child after the tsunami.

“I feel sorry for these people in the same way I do for those who died in the tsunami,” said Naoko Sugimoto, 67, who heads a national suicide support group. “But they didn't die in the tsunami; they died afterward. They took their own lives. And that makes one ask oneself, 'what could we have done?’”

Public health officials have created suicide hotlines, pumped more money into therapy programs and sent more suicide counselors into the field as they wait and worry.

Some who have lost homes, family and friends probably will ask, “What do I have to live for?”

Japan's view of taking one's own life does not carry the connotations of sin or mental illness that it does in the West. For centuries, the country has maintained a romanticized notion of the noble suicide.

Even now, every 15 minutes, someone takes his or her own life in the island nation of 127 million, establishing suicide as the leading cause of death among Japanese men ages 20 to 44 and women ages 15 to 34.

“We never know what we have waiting for us on the next page of our lives,” Sugimoto said. “But people need to wait and see how they can cope through a difficult time!”

Source: Los Angeles Times, J. Glionna 2011-04-24

If you are suicidal, like many suicide victims you might mistakenly think suicide is the end of everything!

Not so! Life goes on! And your life is precious in the sight of God!

God gave you life, so let Him take it at the right time. Whether you die from age or from an illness, or whatever, allow Him to be in control of your destiny.

Realize how special you are to Him! As He spoke to people of old, He is also speaking to you!

The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing
(Zeph. 3:17, NIV).

Envision the Creator of the universe celebrating in refreshing your life in this world and also for eternity!

Give Him a chance and trust Him completely in the trials you face!