Murder Rates are rising sharply, but so too are suicide rates. Life is no longer precious and ending it is becoming too easy. Yet, Life is about people and how we relate within it. Nevertheless, life is what is you make it, so we cannot allow it to escape us. I have had to deal with issues of depression and suicide myself but was able to overcome and is now empowered to always rise above depression leading to thoughts of suicide. What has helped? The connection with the Ultimate and rediscovering a life of passion and purpose. John Maxwell in his book: "The Purpose Driven Life," said it best: "there are two questions we need to ask ourselves to unveil the purpose of our lives. 1) What am I passionate about & 2) What are my gifts. The answers to both of these questions are directional arrows to your life’s purpose. Your passions and your gifts are what give us energy," (Maxwell, John. The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, 2002). In fact, Maxwell goes on to say in the book that the Purpose Driven Life is more than a book but a roadmap that guides your life. In essence, it is living a life of purpose that is best described as the "Goal-Oriented Life". When one discovers one's purpose through one's passions understanding the bigger picture of life which is about people and how we relate, then we will spend our times working on passions that ultimately aides human life. Whether we realize our goals and passions is one thing and must not see as failures but part of the totality of life. Where we fail someone will pick up. Moreover, the realization of anything must always be seen as a work-in-progress, as Caroline Dwek points out that this is "the power of the yet!" Paul in Romans and John Calvin in his theology describes this as a process of being but also becoming. As such our perspectives will be adjusted to mitigate against thoughts that leads to depression.
Data: I reference an article I wrote in The Neoliberal Corporation Moral Magazine entitled:
Murder Rates are Rising Sharply! Is Gun Reform the Answer? - The NeoLiberal Corporation - https://theneoliberal.com/renaldocmckenzie/murder-rates-are-rising-sharply-is-gun-reform-the-answer/04/13/2022/1541/blog-posts/the-neoliberal-journals/, April 10th, 2022. In the article I said:
the data suggests that gun-related deaths are climbing back to their peak levels since 2014/2015, from their low levels of 4.0 percent between 1996-2013/14. Prior to that there were some sharp fluctuations in the murder-rate between 1981-1996 where the rates fell drastically from 6.3 to around 4.8 percent between 1981 to 1984, followed by a steady rise to 7.1 percent from 1984 – 1994/5. In 1996, the rates started to fall again and by 1999, the gun-related murder-rates fell to an all-time low of about 3.9 percent (per 100, 000 people) of the population, which carried over into 1997-2013 with no major rise or fall. Until 2016 to now, where murder rates are rising and are climbing back up to their peak levels. According to John Gramlich of the Pew Research Center: “More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record, according to recently published statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That included a record number of gun murders, as well as a near-record number of gun suicides. Despite the increase in such fatalities, the rate of gun deaths – a statistic that accounts for the nation’s growing population – remains below the levels of earlier years,” (Gramlich, John, “Gun deaths in the U.S.: 10 key questions answered | Pew Research Center,” Feb. 3, 2022).
Indeed, suicide remains a human challenge that must also be resolved properly when appropriated clearly. Suicide stems from issues that lead to depression and therefore we must address the issue in a multifaceted way. Nevertheless, I share how rediscovering the purpose-driven life can help us lead a life that is constructive.
renaldocmckenzie.com/ anchor.fm/theneoliberal
