To the OP,
You should consider yourself lucky—without knowing the details—you may have been given second chance, a new lease on life, and so I hope you can find a new and more meaningful path in life. Many a time those who try in one way or another irreparably damage their bodes which only compounds their state of mental anguish. Again, perhaps you’ve been given a second chance and perhaps too you should consider devoting your time and energy to the service of others, or towards some higher ideal.
To everyone else,
This sub can be quite dark. I guess such is the nature of this but sometimes I don’t know if people on where are real or not—potentially burying those posts from people who are in a crisis and there’s only so many people on here willing to donate their time to console those in such a state… I suppose there’s no knowing either way, my extended family was completely blindsided when a young woman committed such an act. Personally it’s a topic I’m very sensitive about.
Consider the following,
They say the two greatest predictors of happiness are health and community, but above all, community. No one thrives in isolation, yet too many of us suffer in silence.
If every lost life had instead found support—if they had banded together rather than disappearing alone—we’d be looking at a city’s worth of people, millions strong. Even with back-of-the-napkin math, that’s an economy the size of a small country, billions in productivity, countless skills and untapped potential—gone.
What if, instead of vanishing one by one, such people organized? What if such individuals built something greater than themselves? A society that values those on the edge, that turns struggle into strength, isolation into belonging.
No one should have to do this alone. Just maybe, if a small but zealous community of such people stood together, they wouldn’t have to.
Hypothetically speaking,
To spark the imagination, consider the following economic potential of what’s currently being squandered:
- The U.S. sees ~50,000 suicides per year.
- Over 100 years, that’s ~5 million people, roughly the population of South Carolina or Minnesota.
- If we assume 60% workforce participation, that’s 3 million workers.
- The average U.S. GDP per capita is ~$75,000.
- That means this community could generate an economy of:
- 3 million workers × $75,000 = $225 billion per year.
That’s an economy on par with New Zealand or Portugal—a small but developed nation. That’s millions of jobs, businesses, ideas, and contributions to countless future generations that never happened in our current paradigm.
As an example, many medieval monastic societies were very economically productive and furthermore they boasted a standard of living that was far higher and more comfortable than the average medieval peasant. Such is the power of more efficient organization.