Suicide is never the answer.

I was in the UK earlier this week; I spent a hell of a lot of this time on the public transport system in and around London, and unfortunately for me, and every other commuter going into Liverpool Street on Tuesday morning, this public transport system ground to a halt once again because somebody had been hit by a train. In the middle of the morning rush hour.

Tragic and sad though it is that anybody should ever feel driven to feel suicidal (and if you are, please go and seek some sort of professional help), I unfortunately have very little sympathy for people who think that the best 'way out' is being run over by the world's biggest bullet (more on the 'way out' in a moment). I have even less sympathy for those people who actually go through with it, and are prepared to a) traumatise the driver live for the rest of his or her life with the knowledge that he or she was driving the train which killed you and there was nothing he or she could have done apart from apply the emergency brake, by which time it's too late anyway, b) cause so much unnecessary disruption to people you've never even met, c) leave behind so much suffering for your friends and family (everybody has friends and family who care a great deal about you, some people just have funny ways of showing it), d) let the people on the platform who saw you jump live with that image for the rest of their lives and last but not least e) made such a terrible mess on our already filthy and disgusting train lines. Forgive me for being blunt, and perhaps a little insensitive, but I fail to understand how anybody, suicidal or not, can justify ruining other people's lives just because they've had enough of their own.

There are unfortunately many people who feel that the only light at the end of the tunnel is that of the on-coming train - and that suicide really is the best option. This is often, as I'm sure one of my esteemed colleagues will have pointed out by now, a result of either a mental illness or of bullying. Quite often, I imagine that both are connected in some way. In both cases, approaching somebody and asking for help is always the best way forward - although none of us are trained counsellors, if you find yourself in this situation, send us an e-mail and we'd be more than happy to point you towards some friendly, understanding people who are more than willing to help you.

With regard to 'the way out' - there isn't one. You can't just decide that because you're stressed, or because nobody likes you, or because you feel isolated killing yourself will be OK, because it won't. Granted, you won't be stressed, but think about how distressed those around you will be... and when you're six feet deep, you'll be more isolated then than you ever will be alive.

Let me say this again, in plain words that everybody can understand:

• SUICIDE
• IS
• NEVER
• AN 
• OPTION.

I don't think I can make it clearer than that. There are people who care about you, there always will be. Perhaps you haven't met them yet. But by taking your own life prematurely, you will never, ever meet that person who cares. Take it from these people, they've been to dark places nobody ever needs to go to, and have lived to tell the tale - and a happy life.

I know I've linked to this song before, but it's brilliant, and well worth a listen. Twice.

I apologise if I've been uncharacteristically blunt and/or insensitive this week, I suppose I don't really approve of suicide in any form, and when I have opinions like this I find it unusually hard to express them both verbally and written...ly. I also realise that I seem to have chosen the rather more extreme example of throwing yourself in front of a train as the focus for most of this post; thankfully it doesn't happen all too often.

Hopefully next week's topic will be more cheerful, but we wouldn't be doing our duties properly if we didn't have some serious topics once in a blue moon.