If you think the World really wants you dead, think again.
The problem of a world that can seem unassailably hostile.
I had to think long and hard before writing this story, because it hurts me to even think about it. And that is unusual for me.
But it is an incredibly important issue that we “adults” really must care about.
To the “Adults”
When we read the story about the 23 year old girl, Kelly, who lives in Leuven, Belgium, asking the Belgian state to help her commit suicide, and the Belgian government actually seriously considering it, what do we think?
- “Poor girl, I hope she finds some peace”?
- “Wow, why didn’t I think of that”?
- “Hmmm if we could encourage more of these problem kids to do that, maybe it could save us having a war”?
Personally I think “God help us get through this”.
And I am not religious, at least not in the conventional sense.
It isn’t about praying.
It is about speaking up, about what we know in our hearts is wrong.
Definitely not she, nor anyone who hasn’t committed some serious crime against humanity, should feel like they have to die.
Have we really reached the stage in human evolution, where kids, far less people of any age, excluded or ejected from the Embedded Growth Obligation of society, should start killing themselves?
The reason she is ill, is that she has found life so far, harsh.
Unbearably harsh.
In all of the history that we baby boomers know about in our immediate ancestry, for most of us, the story is overwhelmingly one of how each generation got better off.
And it did.
Life got better for each successive generation of us, in general.
That trend was so reliable it kind of became an assumption.
We knew we were going to be better off than our parents.
So did they.
Everyone knew it.
We didn’t even need to try.
Not really.
Until now.
Now things have changed.
Life is not better for our kids, but worse.
Much worse.
And it is time we, the better off amongst us; the “Bosses”; the movers and shakers, and even especially the comfortably retired, realised it.
It is time we started to do whatever we can to change the broken system of society, whether we have kids of our own or not, we all have a responsibility, for the future of humanity.
After all, what really makes this life worth living?
It is the vibrancy of the young, the new things growing, the bubbling of life, the crack of the new dawn on those days we are lucky enough to be awake to see it, and knowing we contributed to that amazing thing, positively.
Kids now (including Kelly aged 23 in that bracket), do not have the same prospects we had.
They do not have free education.
They do not have free health care, or even free dental care.
They do not have an abundance of effectively free social housing.
The younger kids do not even get free meals at school.
They pretty much all need to take out massive loans to pay for their future.
And that is before they even think about lending to buy a house.
If they slip up, they end up living and dying in the street.
Literally.
The pressure now for people to stay solvent, especially kids, who have never been solvent in their lives so far, is massive, and getting bigger every day.
I was at the bottom of the pile once myself, so I know what it is like to have literally nothing.
But for me, there was free education, and that is what saved me, as well as some good samaritans, who I will name one day, if they let me.
I was 24 when I started studying.
Up until then, I was a kid. I still remember it well.
I hope we all do.
Kelly’s death, if it ever goes ahead, will be on all of our hands.
Because we did nothing to change the system that killed her.
And she won’t be the last.
We all of us need to listen to these kids, every word, and analyse the problem.
Just like the system makes the very wealthy ill, it also makes the very poor ill.
And the walls are closing in.
We all of us need to get involved.
We need to get together.
We need to collaborate.
We all of us need to take notice and study all suggestions, weigh up the ethical pros and cons, and voice our opinions on what we think the solutions should be.
We all of us need to donate to the causes we think might be able to make a difference.
We all of us need to donate as much as we can.
If not money then time.
Share this story.
It deliberately isn’t eligible for “Curation”, or monetisation, to keep it out of the paywall.
A better world is literally priceless.
We all of us will all be living in the new world we make.
To the Kids
The message to you, kids, is that right now, it is bad.
We know it is bad.
It really isn’t right that you don’t have the same chances we had.
We, together with you, have a challenge right now with the things that are wrong.
But we will listen to you, and work with you to make it right.
The system is broken, and not many people seem to know what to do about it.
But there are a few that do.
And there are becoming more and more who can see what to do.
It doesn’t involve loss of life.
In the end you’ll see.
All will be good.
If you think the world hates you, think again.
The world loves you, and needs you.
More than anything else, it needs you.
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footnote: Kelly is still alive and apparently well, having changed her mind about suicide. However there are many less publicised suicides including children, which go ahead, with or without state help. It is an issue we all know is down to the pressures our broken system puts on the vulnerable, including the children of the wealthy.
