On Kristel Tejada's Suicide - Some Assumptions Worth Sharing For

You can freely accuse me of making an assumption that would seem unfounded because I don't know Kristel Tejada at all. But I do know suicide because I think about it way more than a normal person does. I think about it before I sleep. I think about it even on good days. I look up on tall structures wondering if jumping from the top would be fatal. The only thing that's keeping me breathing is my fear of failing where Kristel Tejada succeeded.

Kristel Tejada was probably depressed. I can hear the cries of the majority saying that no, she's just a victim of her financial situation but let's face it, unless you're part of the very few families who own the Philippines: we are all in one form of financial fix or another. I get stressed about money. Hell, I get stressed about a lot of things. I get stressed about nothing sometimes too. I struggle with every other thing I do because that's the nature of my brain and I can't help it but I am trying. I'm fortunate that I have a cat to care for and a family who has gone through enough death already. Oh, and yeah, they love me. That helps but I'm sure Kristel was loved by her parents too. Sadly, sometimes, we don't really get what we need from people. Sometimes they let us down.

What killed Tejada isn't the lack of money but the lack of will to live. Is that stating the obvious? Then why are we not acknowledging it? The leftist student group has taken arms, crying foul because she would've been alive if she could've afforded education. Or so they think. I am not trivializing the need for reform on education but I wish for things like a higher salary for public school educators. If we're going to rally for free stuff, who on earth is going to pay for that? God?

image credit: newsinfo.inquirer.net

And dig deeper and think about this: What if she failed a class, got kicked out, and committed suicide? What would the battle cry be?

I distinctly remember the recent death of Lucy Aroma, a poverty-stricken 52-year-old woman who jumped onto the MRT tracks and gripped it tightly. She had a tumor and she was depressed. During that day, all I could hear were people complaining about how bothersome her little stunt was. Did anyone cry foul for her? Did they stage a protest for her, saying that her medical bills are too high?

And then there was a student from the College of Mass Communication in UP Diliman. I can't even find an article about him. He died because he was sad. Too trite to be "newsworthy", I guess.

What we need to talk about right now is the decreasing amount of compassion in our society. Open a social network and you'll hear the young ones proudly saying they don't give a fuck about anything. Cause it's so cool not to care about anything. Try coming to people with your problems and you'll be met with a string of words that goes something like, "I have troubles of my own" and "Ang drama, drama mo naman". Worse than that, some people pray for you. How is that going to help?

Let's be honest and say we let these people die. Maybe she had friends who couldn't handle the extra burden of listening to her worries. Maybe she didn't know where to turn. Sometimes people feel trapped because everyone is closing doors on them. I don't want to romanticize anything but what if all she needed was someone to talk to?

Are we justifying Kristel Tejada's act because she committed it for a cause that is socially accepted? Are we saying that she doesn't get the accusations of weakness or "taking the easy way out" because there is a group that can use the fatal effects of her sadness for their crusade? Are we morbidly celebrating her death, having found a poster child to justify our principles? Why aren't we seeing it for what it could be: death by fear of waking up the next morning.

Couldn't we have saved a great number of people before her, who needed attention but only got words of dismissal?

Let me repeat what has been pointed out: we all have problems. We need to stop for a moment and absorb the gravity of the situation and really think of how hard it is to kill yourself. Think of how much it would take for you to even begin to consider taking your own life. Some people wake up to that heavy and thick feeling and sometimes they give into it.

Each death is terrible, I can't claim to know what kind of grief her family is going through right now. But suicide is a complicated act, it is never the result of one event. We need to take it seriously. We need to start helping the other Kristel Tejadas out there who are quietly struggling with life and wanting to end it all.

Wake up, there are sad people who need hugs.

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This article was shared by Aya Tantiangco as FB note. Before I published the article here, I asked her approval first. Check the screenshot of my request.

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