Did anyone ever thought that having a friend or a family can save someone’s life?
Being alone can take us deep into depression and that is not fun at all. One should always be surrounded with family and friends who comment on things, give support, admire one’s work, go that extra mile to just make one feel that much special, or even annoy the hell out of us; but without the friends and family we boil down to nothing.
Until few months ago I had always thought that one can be alone and one can live without the need to be supported until my nephew died😭😭😭😭
How did he die? Well he died from broken heart, he was thinking that he will quit all his social media channels as no one was commenting on his posts or even giving him any likes. It’s true. I went to all his social media and there were no likes at all. And that too from six months ago. Did we all notice? We are a big family with almost 60 cousins so between them he could have had some likes and many comments. But for us not to notice that he stopped posting was heartbreaking for him. So can you believe that a 25 year old boy can die from increased blood pressure? And being alone in his family home? and I don’t want to blame this on the pandemic, it is severe and we are all scared of socializing, but thank god to social media, it did save us. but why didn’t we check in?
I mean why didn’t we notice? Why didn’t the cousin talk to him? Why did we give up on a member of the family? Why didn’t we think that being MIA was a reason for concern? was he concerned about not getting a job? and that too in a country that had housed 202 nationalities and given them jobs?
What were his thoughts when he graduated? did he think that life will be rosy and he will be holding an important role and be able to change the world? did he think that we will all be there to support him? what were his thoughts when he told his dad that he has a headache and that he was going to take a nap? why did the dad leave him alone to take a nap. Was he depressed? was he ill? no one knows as he was a fine young man and lived on this earth like a spring breeze. I even danced with him on my birthday just a year or so prior to his departure from earth .
I may have a lot of why’s but that will not bring him back to life. And maybe it was meant to be, but we are only humans and it’s normal to wonder.
Maybe I am mistaken, maybe he did have an illness and I am just over thinking a comment that he had mentioned. But whatever it is the boy was lonely and he needed us.
I think that we do need to check in. Simply make a phone call, not just send a whatsapp message without waiting for a reply! Go around and visit? Ask the mother and father about your cousin, take time to entertain him or her. Make someone feel special. Go that extra mile. Send a gift or a letter. I don’t know, do anything or something! we just need to do something to pull that person from going into that deep hole that is making him or her sick of life. Life is great and no one must miss out on it.
What I am trying to say here is no matter how remote one can be from his family or friends, they -in turn- should not be remote, they, and by that I mean all of us, must talk to each other, make each other smile, go for coffee, go for a run, just make your brother, sister, cousin or even friend feel special and that his life is worth living, tell them that sorrow can break the heart, tell them that you love them and that you will do whatever in your hand to help. Send a message on a daily basis. Make them laugh, make them a meal, take them to a restaurant to celebrate being alive.
I feel we are all responsible because we never checked-in, and now we must be careful no to do the same mistake. Dying from a broken heart is possible, and you can check the link to read about it. Thus what I am trying to stress upon here is that we need to be aware of those who live around us and be careful to know what they feel and how they feel it, even neighbors. It is also important to let them know that we are here and we can help. It is not enough to call or send a message at times, maybe we need to be around the person. Maybe also we need to probe to know what is happening inside that person’s head, is there a pain that he or she are feeling but we don’t know about it, is it something silly or major?
I had known some people who died because they were lonely, or of a broken heart, and in some cases it took checking the films on cameras to know about them. Which means they lived in a bad state and died eventually without anyone noticing how they felt and why they died.
Sometimes all it takes is a moment to lose a person. Be aware of that moment, and make sure that you can prevent the death of a person, especially if it’s a premature death.
Having said all of this, maybe the person did reach the last of his/her breath, but maybe the feeling was so immense on ones heart that it made it stop.
Check-in and save a life.