Life is a Gift

"If you don’t like the road you are walking, start paving another one" - Dolly Parton

"Life is not so much what you accomplish as what you overcome" - Robin Roberts

Now it probably seems like an article on the beauty of life, well, it isn’t.

Those two wonderful quotes on life, makes you ponder, dive into thought, about innumerable possibilities you can make and choose, but that’s not the story of everyone. It seems like now instead of using the lens of optimism, people are choosing to go with the flow, stop fighting and just put an end to it all, to their very life, to inclusively add.

Spoiler Alert! Now those lives happen jokes may not apply.

Quite recently I became familiar with the term Euthanasia, that’s an act of ending one’s life to make the pain and suffering go away, and moreover, and then linked to it but not the same, assisted suicide, was mentioned in one of the articles about Sarco Pod, and guess what? it’s a suicide machine that gives the autonomy to kill themselves, and by the way, a Did you know fact: that the practice of assisted suicide is legal in some countries.

Well, I had this word in my mind, and after reading it you may too: Why? At first, the tendency to think that’s what the world’ Headed towards, ruthless, how could they, etc., is quite common and even natural.

But even as obvious as it seems, let’s think it through, why would countries, people, in general, legalise such a practice.

Doesn’t the life of a personal matter, or maybe that ‘I’ does matter and not another person, truly and unfortunately it’s all around us, people don’t care about each other, and even if they do (which isn’t entirely absent) it’s not the same as it used to be in earlier times, and with a pandemic, we had around the corner, hearts have grown cold. Sounds cruel but the rationale for building such machines is “Too make the process easier and uncomplicated”, and now I totally think mental health should be more in focus, Added that suicide is seen as the only resort by some people, But none of them can be blamed, in fact sometimes the hurt is too much to handle, or they can’t go on without their loved ones who passed away, really, reasons are many.

The people who actually make that decision may seem or even be of sound mind when they decide to ahead and give up their life, but it could be a mere misjudgement, deception, or even loneliness, etcetera which could have caused them to take such an extreme step, that it may not even seem extreme to themselves.

But let’s go deeper, deeper enough to look at those who are constructing, building and encouraging suicidal techniques, machines, etc.

Maybe there is indeed a hidden agenda going on, to reduce the population to construct such devices in order that the person can die on their own terms, without any sort of review in between and by the way, not forgetting to mention, the Sarco Pod costs, so thinking about profit by people’s demise, sounds like an evil master plan at the back, but showcased as a welfare policy upfront, sounds like a conspiracy to me.

One of the most creative yet deceptive parts, is the term itself, sarcophagus which is different from a coffin but acts like one, as it is also adorned with inscriptions or sculptures, and this idea dates back to ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Seriously what are the makers trying to say? Have a great afterlife or we are truly going to miss you, so here’s a token of our gratitude for all the days you spent here, hence we thought couldn’t decorate the device but it’s inbuilt with the latest tech, so you can even kill yourself even if you simply blink.

Even though it’s being marketed as something which can cause a peaceful and painless death, it isn’t worth it.

However we can rule out various communities, groups and in total, cultures out there with different thinking than ours, so it might seem inhuman to us, but quite humane to them, with their views as “it’s crazy for people to live against their will”, or “better to die without pain than with pain due to an incurable disease a person is currently suffering, after some time”, and for your information, that’s a part of Euthanasia.

Such an expensive project, surely they know people are suffering, and that’s no surprise, as the people who want to end their life, the figures of it are soaring.

But there are quite a number of differences from the device used in Egypt, to the one being used now and its practices, sarcophagus at that time was for the burial of the ones who had already passed away, the Sarco Pod in use now kills people but with their consent. So if you ask my take on it: Life is all about struggles, and how we become strong fighting and overcoming those, and I do admire this saying: “you don’t win or lose”, but “you win and learn”, and that’s quite true, it’s our perspective, as we can always choose to stand back up and not accept the fall that just came by, After all, if there we no problems, it would’ve been such a monotonous journey (I know you agree) as there would have been nothing to build us up.

Remember, we are never in isolation but we exist in the social cycle, A web full of twists and turns, ups and downs, holes and fulls, and acceptance is always the first step. The value of a life is very high, that’s why people, even if they don’t want to live for themselves, they live for others, who matter to them and that’s what makes it all the more meaningful when we add along with the essence of our existence, the precious and Vital being of others around us. Trust me when I say this, the life that could’ve been saved, that very breath which still was working, could be a pillar to so many in not just times that are perilous, but even in basic happiness, grief, guilt, joy, and really that’s an amazing blessing of God: Fellowship, and that’s complete when it’s not just ‘I’ but also ‘You’, Making it an ‘Us’ so stay alive, enjoy the beautiful days that have been given to you, make the right choices and save lives, even literally if you can!

Written by Ms Ocean Kalra, MA Applied Psychology, 1st Semester, Department of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Science (FBSS), Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies (MRIIRS)