The latest statistics from the Beijing Psychological Crisis Research and Intervention Center indicate that the number of suicides in our country due to mental health issues has reached 287,000 annually.
Today, suicide has risen to the fifth leading cause of death among the total population in China. It is worth mentioning that suicide is particularly common among adolescents and young adults, especially between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, where it stands as the leading cause of death for this age group.
While our material lives have become increasingly prosperous, our spiritual needs are often overlooked. Currently, issues related to the education, family, and social interactions of adolescents have become more prominent, leading to the deterioration of mental health for countless young people and even resulting in irretrievable tragedies.
In recent years, incidents of youth suicides have been frequent and heartbreaking. In October 2020, a second-year high school student in Jiangsu left a suicide note that detailed the various injustices inflicted by his homeroom teacher, and subsequently took his life by jumping into a river.
This tragedy is mournful, and the story behind it warrants our deep reflection.
Identifying the body by the riverside: A human tragedy
On the morning of October 16, 2020, a crowd of curious onlookers surrounded the banks of a reservoir in Taixing City, Jiangsu Province.
Observing the police and professional recovery teams conducting operations on the river, the skeptical onlookers whispered among themselves, speculating about the cause of the incident.
Subsequently, one observer with some knowledge of the situation shared the details with the crowd, expressing regret and eliciting gasps: “I heard it was a kid who just started high school; I don’t know what caused him to feel hopeless and take his own life in the river.”
The search efforts continued, and after a while, amidst the noise, the tightly packed human wall parted to make way.
Then, the police slowly walked out of the crowd carrying a stretcher with a body. A pair of visibly distressed middle-aged parents, upon seeing this, stumbled toward the stretcher and, with trembling hands, gently lifted the white cloth covering the body. Immediately, a piercing wail penetrated the eardrums of all present, causing great discomfort.
Upon confirming that the body under the white cloth was their son, Zhu Jian, the couple could no longer support themselves and collapsed to the ground, weeping uncontrollably as they embraced their son’s body on the stretcher.
During this time, the police and kind-hearted bystanders tried to comfort the grieving parents, but the couple remained immersed in their immense sorrow, ignoring their efforts.
The heart-wrenching cries continued for a long time, amidst the sorrow
