3,026 More People Die from Suicide in America Each Year Than in Car Crashes

A thread that is about the increase in a nation's suicide rate and concerns itself more about method of suicide rather than the why.

I'm just wondering how many whom have posted here are out of work, struggling economically, are single and in their 50's (or even 60's), and have undergone a massive slide in their sense of self-esteem and worth? I'm guessing I'm the only one, and I am in that position. To be honest with you all, your sense of spirituality and belief doesn't pay the bills, or put food on the table, and those are just the basic requirements to survive the modern society.

It's become a cliche to say it, but I didn't lose my job, the company I worked for lost it due to the Banksters and governments taking away the economy in which the company operated...I was made redundant. This is the first time I have been out of work for 36 years, I lived off my redundancy pay whilst trying to secure alternative work. I didn't want to have to claim anything off the state, but seeing now that I am up against ageism, it is looking more likely that I will never work for another company again? I could go for roles lower than my qualifications, and have on a few occasions, but they won't touch me. I'm not whingeing and whining, I'm just telling you how it is.

I have been out of work now for nine months, have applied for many jobs, and have secured less than ten interviews, not one has had the courtesy to let me know the outcome. I have been forced to claim off the state, and the money paid every two weeks is not enough to get you through the whole two weeks, by the last weekend, I always have no food. Forget bills, forget clothes, forget eating correctly, forget socialising, these are just anxieties that build up on top of each other each week. One's sense of self-esteem and self-worth take a dive off the top of the poverty tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Every type of aid you receive comes with pressure and obligation, not to mention social stigma. With a stroke of a pen, hundreds of thousands of middle-aged people have had their livelihoods and lifestyles wiped away as the acceptable collateral damage of a crashed economy, and have been thrown and left rotting on the pile of the forgotten.

Many people won't accept that, many can't accept that, so they choose to end their life. Regardless of what you may feel about people whom take their own life, before one can make a judgement upon them, you need to have walked a mile or two in their shoes, or lived a month or two in their minds. Younger people are often quite pithy in their statements regarding the older generation, believing they can correctly perceive what the older people are feeling, and what they are going through. This is tantamount to the unwise preaching to the wise with a wisdom they cannot yet have attained.

I wake up now each morning with the same burning unanswerable question...what's the point?

reply to post by elysiumfire


I am so sorry about your job situation...I was listening to a dissertation on the suicide rates with those over 50 years of age. Many of the things they spoke of were as you indicated. 50 years old, kids in college, the American dream home and the bills/taxes that go with it can be overwhelming.