Written by: Prakarsha Tabdar - 25010, Grade X
Posted on: 13 September, 2022
There was once a boy named Rakesh who used to live in a small village. He was 10 years old and he was a very happy and lovely kid. He also had very caring parents. Back then people only prioritized physical pain and nothing else. Rakesh started to grow up and he started to understand how life is. He used to get lots of assignments from his school. He was always sad and looked like he hadn't slept for 2-3 days. His parents were constantly worried about him but he didn't say anything to his parents because he thought it might just worry them more and they may think he was starting to get crazy. When he shared what he was suffering from to his friends they used to laugh at him and didn't take his words seriously. His mental health was getting worse day by day. He was not able to focus on his assignments anymore. He had already forgotten how to enjoy his life
He slowly began to lose interest in life. He thought that he was not important to anyone and no one would care if he didnt exist. He slowly started to have negative feelings in his mind. He came across suicidal thoughts more often but he just used to ignore it. He slowly started to harm himself. He used to cut his hands with a sharp blade. At first it was very painful for him but later he got used to it and he started to love that pain. He wanted himself to suffer more and more. He used to cut his hands multiple times a day just to feel that pain. After some time Rakesh's parents were a little worried because he didn't used to talk to anyone and he just used to spend his time in his room all day long without talking to anyone.
His parents asked him what was going on many times and after some time Rakesh wasn’t able to hide this with his parents any longer and said how he used to cut himself and how he came across the idea of suicide multiple times but his parents didnt believed him because that time people were still not properly educated and they still lacked knowledge on mental halth and how serious it can be. His parents thought that he was crazy and took him to a witch doctor the next day thinking that he was possessed by some evil spirits. After that his mental health became even worse because the person he trusted the most, his parents didn't believe him.
He was now having a difficult time sleeping and he always used to get lost in his own thoughts. He had so many things going on his mind, so many questions he had but there was no one to answer. He used to ask himself why no one believed him and why no one loved him. He even stopped eating properly after some days and it could clearly be seen that he hadn't slept at all due to the dark circles in his eyes and how tired he looked. He again came across the idea of suicide but this time he didn’t ignored it. He was fed up with this world and he didn't want to suffer anymore.
No one listened to his problem, not even his loving parents believed him. After some time he attempted suicide and left this cruel world. It shocked the village. His death caused a ripple. They eventually began learning and focusing on mental health too so that there would not be another Rakesh. Although Rakesh was not able to get the treatment he should have, the people after him would get the proper facilities.
The moral of the story is we should not ignore mental health as it can be far more dangerous than physical health. We never know what a person is going through so we must think before saying something to them. If someone had listened to Rakesh's problem then he might not have taken that step. So if someone is willing to share their problem to us then we must listen as it might help them.
