Could Millennials be the "Suicide Generation?"

"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit) 09/08/2014 at 12:54 • Filed to: None

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Squeezed in between the Baby Boomers entering retirement and the Gen X'ers churning along, and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! are the Millennials. The dreaded, good-for-nothing Millennials. The constant bane of the older generation, lazy, over-educated, unemployed, Millennials seem to be the human trash of today's society. So what's a Millennial down on his or her luck to do? Could we, in fact, be seeing an entire generation ready to commit suicide - and is that in fact a bad thing?

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An entire generation dying - or committing suicide - won't necessarily hurt a populace economically or socially. This is basically what happened to France in WWII - yes, things were rocky, but as hundreds of thousands of young men patriotically sacrificed their lives to stop the Huns at the gates of Paris, the people they left behind began the slow process of rebuilding. Today, the rebuilding is already being done, by the productive members of the older generation and the eager go-to guys and gals of the new one.

In fact, if anything, populations are quite big enough as they are. Overgrowth in population results in too much competition for the job market, which is exactly where Millennials find themselves. Birth rates are carried over from the Gen X'ers as their children (the products of the linked article above) are starting to go to high school. Birth rates among Millennials are low as they still struggle to find jobs and relationships so, really, we're not going to be missed all that much.

In a world that's getting increasingly sucky, I'd argue that there is extreme dignity, pride and freedom in affording oneself a comfortable suicide on his or her own terms. I don't think there's anything shameful about suicide at all - and in fact, it might even be downright patriotic. Suicide is a painful experience for your loved ones, but sometimes the personal pain of living in a world that actively rejects you is too much. Like I said, there is tremendous value in dying on your own terms, in comfort.

I don't know if I will hold true to my own words or if I'm just going to make myself look like the world's most massive hypocrite - I've got some time still to decide if I want to stick around or not - but really, I've had a lot of time to think about the advantages of suicide and I see some real strong points. I'm not saying that you should consider suicide yourself - it's not for everything - but hey, it might be for some people all along. The takeaway from this is that if someone you know does commit suicide, there are reasons for it. It's painful and hard for loved ones to discover what those reasons are, but !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) sometimes it just makes a lot of sense.

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UPDATE: Well, most of you pretty much figured out that this is a thinly-veiled suicide letter (which really wasn't hard to figure out) and a bunch of you posted the National Suicide Prevention Hotline or otherwise advised me to get help. So, that's what I ended up doing and I've made arrangements to see someone on a semi-regular basis for now. So I guess I'll see how that works out. But thanks guys.

Jagvar > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:01

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The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-TALK. Anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide should not hesitate to speak to someone who can offer support. This one life is so very precious; it's all you get.

505Turbeaux > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:04

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Only time I am going to opt out is when I am either dying anyways, or a large burden to my family. It has nothing to do with if I have a job or not. My family is prepared should the time come after I get into an accident or get terminally ill. I don't condone it much outside of my own personal boundries, but that is because I see people who never tried to better themselves or their lives take this way out. To put it bluntly I guess that is part of natural selection to weed out the weak. And don't ever try for attention using it either, that is just wrong. I apologize to those dealing with it currently who take these words as me being cold hearted. I have dealt with it in my life enough to be desensitized to it, though it still hurts. Anyone considering it should know that The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-TALK though in case Jagvar's post gets knocked off the top.

For Sweden > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:11

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I read an interview of someone who jumped off the Golden Gate bridge and survived.

He said that immediately after jumping, he realized every problem in his life could be solved; every problem except for the fact that he jumped off the bridge.

dogisbadob > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:16

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The world will be a better place when all the baby boomers are GONE. The Worst Generation caused this mess in the first place.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:21

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Suicide is another thing that's so frowned upon in this society, but honestly, life isn't for everybody. It really isn't. It's sad when kids kill themselves 'cause they didn't really give it a chance, but life is like a movie: if you've sat through more than half of it and it sucked every second so far, it probably isn't gonna get great right at the very end for you and make it all worthwhile. No one should blame you for walking out early.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Doug_Stan…

Rainbow > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:25

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How can you possibly be saying that suicide is somehow not a horrible thing?

HammerheadFistpunch > For Sweden 09/08/2014 at 13:38

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I've interviewed several suicide survivors and they ALL say something similar.

Brian, The Life of > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:51

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Suicide: a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

heliochrome85 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 13:53

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As both a physician, and as someone who knows what you are going through, I am asking you to listen to us, and see someone. Posts like these are cathartic in the moment, but ultimately only re-enforce the negative voices you are dealing with. Thoughts of suicide can be comforting in the moment. Just let those around you know if things are going down hill, so you aren't fighting alone. Even if every fiber of our being is telling us we are.

Jagvar > Brian, The Life of 09/08/2014 at 14:07

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A severely depressed person's mind is so altered that he/she often cannot see the rationale in that very true statement.

Frank Grimes > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 14:15

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I've been to dark places so I hope it lends some credibility to my opinions but I think suicide is selfish. Suicide is giving up and extremely negative view that things will never get better.

Mental Health system in this country sucks and maybe its the same around the world but the inability to talk about depression or any mental health issue is usually met with judgement and wierd ideas that people with mental health issues are somehow week or strange or crazy. This sucks. In my experience with being diagnosed and treted for ADD was bad enough the shame and worry about what other people think etc. is powerful. I have to pick and choose who I can and cant tell this to. I have had family members discount my diagnosis and explain it away that its fake and everyone has the symptoms.

Basically I think my point is that people need to be able to talk about these things with people who might not have depression etc. and need to be able to reach out and have understanding.

Corey > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 14:49

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To get this potentially interesting discussion in a realm of empirical evidence, how are suicide figures trending among generational groups? A data sheet showing suicide percentages by year of birth would be nice to see. We can wax philosophical all day, but stats reveal the truth. Are we Millennials offing ourselves at a rate commensurate with economic downturn?

https://www.afsp.org/understanding-…

I've resigned myself to the probability that I likely won't see a possible total individual wealth as large as someone who is demographically similar to me born 10 years ago, due in large part to loss of opportunity. And being jobless right now, I feel you. I think about it all the time. I've got some savings left and when that runs out, I'm not entirely sure what I'll do. Hoping not to get to that point.

The Japanese have an interesting cultural view of the matter: http://t.co/mB9XuJNsMJ It's worth considering.

pauljones > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 15:42

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Okay, there's a great deal going on here. Let's address this rationally and in order:

1) As a generation of people in the Western world, we are far from down on our luck. Even the worst of our problems are child's play when compared to much of the rest of the world. Take a look at what's going on in the greater world, and you might just change your perspective a bit.

People have survived, and continue to survive, far worse than what we experience.

2) An entire generation is not about to commit suicide - the worst that will realistically happen to us has already happened. Now, there is certainly the question of what our generation will be known for - but that's yet to be written, and that's up to us. This is our opportunity to try each and every day to redefine our world in some small way.

3) That's not what happened in France. In France, men, young and old, who were able-bodied enough to fight, stood up and fought for their nation, their homes, and their loved ones. They did not want to fight. They did not want want to die. They did not see the potential invasion of their homes, throw up their hands, cry in despair, and then run into the line of fire because there was nothing left for them on this planet. They got up and fought, risking death not because they had nothing, but because they had everything, and they did not want to lose it.

To simply assert that they basically just went up against the Nazis in a semi-suicidal rampage is more than a bit unfair.

And their deaths had a huge and substantial impact on the development of France, both culturally and economically. Not only did the French lose in their attempts to repel the Germans, but when the war was over, they were deprived of the resources that they needed - in this case, almost an entire generation of young men and women - necessary to rebuild. As a result, post-war life in France was a terrible thing, and very slow to improve. It was much the same in Germany and even the UK.

4) The job market sucks right now. It really, genuinely does. But that's not a problem that is even remotely unique to our generation. Our mothers and fathers suffered much the same in the aftermath of World War II, where a booming war economy in the United States came to a grinding halt with the cessation of hostilities. Our grandmothers and grandfathers suffered much the same in Great Depression.

This is nothing new, and neither is the despair that those caught dealing with it feel.

5) The drop in birth rates in the Western world is tied primarily to education levels, and has little to do directly with the present socioeconomic climate.

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But all of that, really, is secondary at the moment.

What I'm getting from your post is that you don't feel valued, either as an individual or as a member of society.

That's simply not true.

You see, the problem that I think that most people in our generation have is that in many ways, we are the first generation to grow up in a world that is so different technologically from our predecessors. The advancement of technology in the past 20 years has profoundly impacted the way we live, learn, and interact with the world around us. The difference is simply astounding. And yet, despite all of the change that we have come to know and adopt, we are still in the overall minority - there remains a significant part of the population that lives very differently, either as a result of a generational gap or as a result of not being fortunate enough to have what we have.

As a generation, "Millenials" in the West just don't seem to grasp this. We, as a whole, have no idea that the world could possibly be such an astoundingly different place than what we see in front of our own noses. In adopting, and adapting to, all of the new technologies that are constantly thrown in our faces, we have neglected to learn or understand a few basic philosophies of life, and we are helpless until we do so.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

1) Leadership

This is extremely important, as a big part of what I perceive to be the issue that you are dealing with is that you feel unable to make a positive contribution to society.

And frankly, you couldn't be more wrong. You can, and do, make a difference. You just have to realize it, and understand that leadership and making a difference works a little bit differently than movies and TV shows would have you believe.

Understand - leadership is not something that is simply granted to you. It's earned. Leadership is not some distant notion in which we picture commanding legions of worker bees while we heroically save the day by seeing the next great trend or whatever coming. Leadership starts with you, in your own life, leading yourself in your day-to-day affairs. Leadership is setting an example for others to see.

Do you not like the world around you? Then try to come up with ways to make changes in your own life. If you feel unimportant, chances are there others that feel much the same way, regardless of age or generation. Try something as simple as saying hello to other people as you go about your day. Something as little as that can go a long way towards making someone feel a little bit better; a little bit more respected as a human being. The better they feel, the more likely they are to be motivated to work at contributing positively themselves - and all because they simply felt like they were acknowledged as humans being (and yes, the spelling juxtaposition is intentional). The more likely one person is to feel better about themselves, the more likely they will help someone else, and the more likely they are to help someone else, the more likely that the world will be a better place.

It all starts with one simple decision - one simple gesture. Tiny, perhaps, and the results of it perhaps equally tiny. But, then, we each one person in a big world. Sure, you may never see the direct result of your own actions, but realize that the world is bigger than just you. Even if our individual efforts make only a small difference, if we each put our egos aside and accept that, then work to make a tiny difference, the effects begin to stack very quickly. If each and every person did something as simple as acknowledging someone else in a positive manner, the world would be a very different place.

And right here and right now, you have the power to make a difference. What will you do?

It doesn't take much; just a little bit of...

2) Courage.

Any decision that isn't simply the path of least resistance in our lives is a risk, and requires some degree of courage. But, once again, you have to understand what courage is. Courage is not defined by saving that really hot girl from a random threat and then having her fall in love with you, or taking down a terrorist cell, or anything of that nature.

Rather, courage is defined by the ability to look beyond yourself, beyond your own individual needs, and acting in a manner that is positive for others, even if it comes at your own expense or convenience.

Is getting up everyday and trying to force yourself to smile and say hello to people the most convenient thing in the world? Not really. It takes effort away from our own tendency to be self-centered and care only about what we see for ourselves. But, it is something that can make a difference, and that is the beginning of...

3) Discipline.

Nothing is ever truly free, and nothing that is worthwhile will ever be easy. I want the world, too. I want a wonderful young woman to marry and spend the rest of my life with. I want one of the cars we often talk about here on Jalopnik or Oppositelock. I want a nice house. I want to build something great and be recognized for it. But if I am to achieve any of that, it requires focus. It requires the ability to set my goal, and the discipline to keep working towards it, even though other options might be far, far easier.

In school, they fill your head with the notion that you can achieve anything. Sometimes, that gets taken a bit too literally. You can't take off and fly like Superman. You can't get up and build a warp drive that will take us to the next galaxy.

However, you CAN make a difference. All you need is just a little...

4) Patience.

Possibly the greatest shortcoming of our generation is our lack of patience. We live in a state of mind in which we want everything and we want it now. Did we do our homework? Great, where is our pat on the back? Oh, look! I turned in my work assignment on deadline! Where's my cookie?

That's just not the way the world works now, and not the way the world has ever worked before, and likely not the way the world will ever work.

If you want something, you just have to learn to be patient. It sucks, but there it is.

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With the patience to discipline yourself, the discipline to demonstrate a little courage, and the courage to understand what leadership well and truly is, you'll see just how important you are to the world around you - and you'll be astounded by the difference that you can make.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/08/2014 at 15:44

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What years determines Gen Z and a Millenial? I was born in 98 so would that put me as a Gen Z or a "millenial"?

Gamecat235 > pauljones 09/08/2014 at 15:45

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I regret that I have but only one recommendation to give. Yours is a comment worth many more than that.

thebigbossyboss > Brian, The Life of 09/09/2014 at 23:03

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Very succinct. Brilliant.

thebigbossyboss > pauljones 09/10/2014 at 21:23

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I take issue with the statement

"You see, the problem that I think that most people in our generation have is that in many ways, we are the first generation to grow up in a world that is so different technologically from our predecessors."

It is true that we are the first generation to grow up with the internet. But most generations (excluding a few very dark periods in history such as 400-600 AD (dark ages) experienced much wrenching technological change.

Our generation births (1983-1994) grew up with the internet.

Our parents were the first generation to grow up with accessible air travel which opened a whole world of opportunity.

Their parents were the first to grow up with accessible motor vehicles which again opened a whole world of opportunities and changed the way cities were built for the next 70+ years. They also experienced a huge migration to the cities from the farm.

Our grand parents parents were the first to grow up with inventions such as the radio. That's a HUGE invention. It changed many things. All of the sudden you could reach many people at once with no printing press. You could talk to someone *instantly* without them being present.

And so on, and so forth. Although I am not sure *every generation* experiences huge technological change we certainly are not the first. Aircraft and cars be damned, noone can tell me the radio, was not a world altering technological change.

Sally O'Broder > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 09/10/2014 at 22:52

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Bro, most of the crap said about Millenials is said by the Baby Boomers that have hit their sell by date and who have gone bad. They project, badly.

Ellie-R > Corey 04/25/2015 at 14:09

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There seems to be article after article posted about the sad fact that millennials will likely take the biggest hit from the recession and will never be given the help to recover. As a millennial myself who was made redundant from my first two jobs after university, then made homeless, then endured years of badly paid temp work that just added to my debt, I was really hoping to hear politicians offer some sort of support in the run up to the elections here in the UK. Something to acknowledge the difficulties that those of us barred from society during our 20s have faced and to help us catch up.

So far I’ve heard a few promises to help the NEXT generation (all good), but absolutely nothing to help millennials recover and get back onto (or start) career development. I believe my generation will be remembered as Generation-F (make of that what you will). I won’t be voting for anyone this year (since no one has offered me anything), and will likely be leaving the country once my masters degree is complete as I no longer feel part of British society and my enthusiasm and optimism have now run out. I have a feeling there will be many other educated and skilled millennials making the same decision in years to come.

kion > pauljones 08/30/2017 at 00:00

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Well said, truly resonated with me.

kion > thebigbossyboss 08/30/2017 at 00:04

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I do not think you get the point.

anarchyanononon > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 01/18/2018 at 10:40

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every day i wake up a debt slave. pour anti-depressants into my cheerios, get lit out of my mind and then sit in a cubicle all day. why even bother with this hopeless life?