Teen Suicide Essay, Research Paper

As if parents did not have enough reasons to worry about their teenage children, what with drugs, drinking, and driving. Now a new concern has appeared within the last several years. I am talking about teenage suicide.

Statistics show that one and a half million teenagers will have taken his or her own life by the end of this year. It is supposedly very puzzling that this great amount of teenagers find it necessary to take their own lives. Some of the more common reasons seem to come from pressures in high school, problems with parents, problems with relationships, and increasingly drug or alcohol related problems. And in many cases, these troubled teens believe they have nobody close enough to discuss their dilemmas with. So, they feel the quickest and easiest solution to escaping their problems is inside of a bottle of sleeping pills or the barrel of a handgun.

So, what can be done to stop this endless routine of teen suicides ? In most cases, the smartest solution would be for the teen to just wait until tomorrow. Speaking from a personal experience, there were many times in the last few years when I thought that all of my situations were so overwhelming, that the “easy” way out almost seemed to be the right alternative. But fortunately, my better judgment eventually took effect. I just waited until tomorrow and the problems that seemed so terrible eventually worked themselves out. Of course, the love, concern, and understanding parents did not hurt. Unfortunately, many victims of suicide do not have the benefit of loving parents or friends to help them with their dilemmas. For them, I would suggest they seek out a priest, teacher, counselor, or even the parent of a friend.

Teen suicide is a crisis that must be addressed quickly and thoroughly. In the time it has taken me to compose this composition, another teenager has probably taken his or her own life. Sure, it is an overused cliche’, but it has never before showed mre sentiment: suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Maybe one day, we can look at teen suicide as being nothing more than a temporary problem.