But such a statement doesn't surprise anybody anymore, because suicide has become part of this Island's everyday life. In the past, I spent time with rich people whose wealth nearly killed their hearts, and I traveled among poor people whose children were dying of malnutrition. Yet nowhere else did I come across this deadly phenomena to such an extent as in Sri Lanka. Once in a while I visit a mortuary.
Suicide is a common cause that turns a precious human life into a dead scientific object.
I once went to a hospital, the shouts of a young man who had drunk pesticides were echoing throughout the building. For the doctors, a hopeless, but a common case. If one is reading the newspaper, or if one is talking to people, it's a subject which one encounters anywhere at any time. Even during the days when I was letting these black, sad thoughts flow on white, clean paper, a friend told me about the suicide of some monks. How difficult it is to find a good answer.