As someone who works in the mental health field, I feel that we will soon need to give people concrete and not abstract reasons for living.
Moralistic perspectives of suicide prevention are shame based and ineffective. If anything they actually exacerbate things.
Suicide prevention has failed to keep up with individual and social intellectual development. People’s ability to question the purpose of living has gained more depth, while arguments for living have stagnated at a dogmatic level.
Capitalism will either prematurely kill you or kill your hopes.
At this point suicide is a systemic issue. Capitalism has been set up in a way that we are constantly either working to attain basic needs or secure the ones already attained. There is no rest.
On Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, physiology and safety needs come first and are for the most part basic needs. Threat in attainment of physiological and safety needs a human rights violation. Capitalism does this for billions of people on a daily basis.
Yes, capitalism has enabled attainment of these things. The problem is that it has done so for a few at the cost of many and while almost draining life out of them. It has placed so many hoops to jump through that in the end the system only benefits those at the top of pyramid and slowly kills everyone else.
Capitalism will either kill you physically or psychologically. You will either die trying to attain the needs above or be killed by lacking them or it will kill your hunger for life.
It will either kill you or render you hopeless enough to kill yourself.
In a game where some have years of a head start and the goal post keep shifting for newcomers, who will lose?
In a game that is leagued with tribalism, racism, homophobia, nepotism, sexism, ableism, etc. who loses?
What happens when self-worth is assessed from a capitalistic perspective? Is then an individual’s worth a function of the economy and where they are on it?
Kenya is slowly killing its youth.
2021’s voter registration had the lowest youth turnout. If you live in this country, it not hard to understand why.
If it is not the police who will kill you, the taxes will. If you survive the education system, the job market is waiting for you. If not that maybe the healthcare system and poorly planned infrastructure system will. If not that maybe it will be national level service providers corporations that run like a Njoroge and Son’s kiosk. KPLC we see you.
Then awaits black tax, your watchie, parking attendants, inflation, an ever growing cost of living, insecurity, relational traumas, your landlord, character development etc.
Where does one win?
Dilute adulting
Adulting is tough.
If opportunities for enjoyment arise, seize the moment and eat them with a big spoon.
As an adult. Enjoyment has to be a conscious and active choice.
Life will not knock at your door to bring you enjoyment.
Create it and enjoy responsibly.
Soon we will have to radically resist and fight the system or risk individual and sociocultural regression.
Apparently, we are not angry enough yet.
What will be the tipping point?
When will the rice not swell?
I agree, when we were young it was easy smile and live happily as long as you are alive, food on the table and family or friends hoping for a better life and good things was easy too...but adulting eish! lets say as we actively look for sustainability and mental health, let's all actively and fully enjoy the little beautiful things that bring joy to us.