Talking about suicide, I think of an article I wrote about this time last year in my qq space. The following was my observations about the issue. I sincerely hope more people will pay attention to this serious matter.

Recently I often heard people say that this year has been unfortunate for our school, for in just one year 2 bad things happened. First, a student killed himself by jumping down from the third floor and then another one ran away without asking for leave, mysteriously missing and just nowhere to be found. The whole school was on high alert and took a series of measures to ensure that no such thing would ever occur. Although it was confirmed that the suicide was committed just because he was actually a mental patient and was attacked by depression that day, although the lost girl has finally returned, the school’s day-to-day work was negatively affected and the image of the school was and still is damaged.

If you often watch TV or read newspapers, you will find that this kind of news coverage is not uncommon at all. The 2 incidents which happened in our school were on no account isolated cases. An elementary school student decided to end his life by hanging himself with his young pioneer red scarf. And he was only 11 years old! A female graduate student in Beijing Normal University also killed herself by jumping down from a high building, leaving a note saying “I am living in this world without any joy or hope.” A 23-year-old employee of Foxconn Technology Group jumped to his death on the night of May 26. It was the 10th such death and 12th such fall at the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen this year. If you search on the Net, you are sure to find numerous similar news reports concerning suicide by youngsters. Then why do so many people decide to end their lives at such a young age?

Many educators and psychologists have expressed their concern and urged relevant departments to take effective suicide prevention measures. They analyzed the cases and tried to figure out the causes of youth suicide. And most of them agree on the following reasons:

1)      The pressure of study or work is too high. As a student, you have to enter a key high school and then a prestigious university. When you finally graduate, you’ll have to get a well-paid job and then you’ll have to be able to buy a fancy car and a house. In one word, you have to succeed, otherwise you’ll be socially judged as a loser.

2)      The post-1980/90 generation is mentally vulnerable and lacks the ability of communicating with others. They are mostly the only child in the family, received much care and love from their parents and their grandparents and just don’t know what difficulty or frustration is. However, life is far from what they think to be. When they need to face the reality and have to handle it alone, they feel deeply depressed and don’t know what to do with it.

In general, I agree with them. However, I believe there should be something deeper behind it. Our society is undergoing several major social changes. Since 1978, when China began its reform and opening up to the outside world, China has been going towards the market economy. Now we are going through the transitional stage of urbanization. So the pursuit of wealth has been the major goal for many people, and their value orientation has changed greatly. Unavoidably, the education of children will also be affected. And schools cannot do the job alone.

Just look around, some officials trade their power for money or sex; law enforcement officials betray principles for bribes. Doctors prescribe unnecessary medicine for kickbacks from medicine manufacturers. Some businessmen sell fake or even toxic products without the slightest sense of guilt. So what should be the major goal of life? And what on earth is the definition of success? How should we live in this world with other people? Are we only competitors or partners? How should we treasure and spend our only life? What in the world are our rights and obligations? Many youngsters are just spiritually lost. 

To put it straightforwardly, our society is partly corrupted. Moral decay is the result of a lack of strong conviction. When one has no belief system, one becomes unscrupulous or vulnerable when facing difficulties or failures.

Most Westerners believe in God, They are taught from childhood that God is always watching them. And He would help those who are honest and tries hard in their work, and at the same time, He would also punish those who are dishonest or doing evil. I firmly believe that it is far better for one to have a belief than have none at all