Suicide

“Suicide”, when I hear that word, I would often relate the cause of it to depression due to unbearable stress from work or family issues. There has been only one that hit close to home and it was right here on campus. It was two years ago this month that a student committed suicide in his room in Roth Quad. I didn’t even know it had happened until I heard people murmuring about it around me. Initially thinking it was just a rumor I didn’t think about it too much and let it slip out of my mind. However, I soon found out that it was true when it was officially announced on the school’s website.

Questions started filling my head as to what would cause the student to do such a thing to take his own life. Was he under a particular science major and couldn’t handle the workload from bio II, physical chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochem? Maybe it wasn’t about school but family problems at home or a relationship with a girlfriend that gone bad? I’ve seen my share of the bad moments with these classes from my friends who take them and they can get into the strict study mood and testy once exams are getting closer but afterward they go back to their normal selves.

Finding more about the victim was even more upsetting. He was senior majoring in psychology, just a couple of months away from graduation (assuming that he was finishing up his degree). He would’ve been celebrating with his friends that they finally made it through the 4 years, going through rough, sleepless nights while studying for psych and now get a taste of true freedom of no longer carrying a heavy textbook. I remember reading comments of those who were friends of the victim and all were positive and nothing indicated that he would commit suicide. It is a scary thought that each one of us has a certain limit as to how much we can handle and keep inside mentally and we don't know when we will break that limit and fall into that never ending hole to end it all.