Turn on to Life!

Life is the most precious asset and blessing bestowed upon us by the Almighty. Life is a valuable gift which needs to be nurtured and cherished. All living beings including the humans universally possess the instinct of survival or self-preservation which ensures the continuation of progeny.  Life forms the core of the nature & the universe. In all the religious traditions, life is considered to be sacred and values related to human life are respected.  Islam considers life as an Amanah or Trust and thus protecting the life forms one of the primary objectives of the Shari’ah.

As such, it was very shocking for me to discover about the recent multiple suicide attempts by Kashmiri youth due to their poor results in higher secondary exams. Even before this, I read a survey about the suicide attempts by youth in Kashmir due to failed love affairs. This growing suicide rate among the youth of Kashmir is alarming and losing our youth to suicides is a great loss for the valley.  Suicide is a very serious matter and this trend can lead to devastating ends and repercussions. We cannot simply discard this critical issue just by calling it a consequence of lack in the religious morality and social values. So instead of regretting the loss & passing comments which makes no difference, we better should try to address this problem and identify its possible solution.

The growing rate of suicides in valley brings our whole educational and social system under scrutiny. If only had we realized the importance of youth and life, failure in love or exams would never seem so significant. These events should contribute towards our learning experience and help us to take charge of our lives rather than losing it.  We all have our destinies to fulfill as we make them and our destinies are not tied to others. We have the right to choose and become what we want to. But Alas! If only we had the right people to make the youth understand this before we lose them.

Our youth do have the drive to excel but lamentably we have a lot of superficial advisors rather than real listeners. We are the first to criticize and the last to encourage. Our surroundings coerce the youth to believe in fake norms but not in their own dreams. Thus, becomes blurred the vision of our youth with their consciences muted. Our youth are not intellectually free to choose what they want to. The parents and the society together are responsible for robbing the youth of realizing their dreams, potentials and vision, besides depriving them of independent and creative thinking.

Life is our most beloved possession. The million dollar question is what makes a person mentally so motivated to give up life and take an irreversible step like suicide? For youth, many reasons could contribute towards taking this drastic step. Peer pressure, social demands and unrealistic expectations from parents are top among the many reasons. We need to have more counselors to understand the concerns of youth and to interact with them about their issues. Giving enough space to our youth for realizing their destinies & talents, being satisfied with their progress and guiding their faltering steps towards excellence will surely reverse this trend and thus once again will we see our youth gleaming with progress and enlightening Kashmir with their every step ahead.