Different View

When we talked in class about how Ophelia supposedly kills herself by drowning in the river, the general view in the room was that people are hesitant to kill themselves because they are unenlightened to what will happen to them after they die. I considered that that view is true for people that never go through with it, like Hamlet for example and his famous soliloquy "To be or not to be-that is the question". Hamlet contemplates if he should continue to suffer or take charge of his torturous life and just end it. If Opehlia did decide to kill herself I don't think she was worried about her afterlife when the life she was living was hell; with her father dead and her lover's banishment due to his hand in her father's death. I think that if someone's life already feels like hell they will not be worried about their afterlife but instead will find the choice of death as a life raft, leading them to peace. I thought about this weeks ago and recently after the tragedy in our small town. When I heard the news my heart was heavy, I would always see this person at parties but I would have never guessed what he was going through. Every time you hear about someone making that decision I know I think about a few things: why did they think this was the only solution, if only they would have said something, and it is never anyone you would have guessed. I think that the worst part is most times it comes as a complete shock and even if you couldn't of helped you wish there had been a way to reach out to that person. I strongly believe suicide should be made a more prominent issue in today's society. I think there are a lot of issues that need to be tackled in the United States but due to the severity I figure suicide should be high on that list of issues. The main problem is I don't think most people that think about suicide are afraid of what will happen after and once they come to that conclusion being enlightened or not isn't a barrier.