Suicide Note (Questions)

1. Why do people commit suicide? Provide example from real life.

-     One of the reason on why do people commit suicide is because they faced problems which make them feel depressed. They cannot overcome the problems which caused them to commit suicide in order to get away from the problems. They think that when they commit suicide, they will not have to face any problems. For example, students who always fail in their exams even though they already study hard. This situation will make them feel depressed, especially when they are receiving a lot of pressure from the people around them such as their parents or teachers. When they feel a lot of pressure, they will feel depressed if they cannot manage it well. So, when they are not thinking straight, they will decide to commit suicide in order to run away from the problems they faced.

2. What is her agenda in writing this poem

Janice Mirikitani wrote this poem because she wanted all people in this world to think a while about this matter. Janice also wanted to make the poem as a lesson to people so they do not take the easy way to solve the problem by commit suicide. In this poem, the suicidal girl has a perfectionist streak in her, which compels her to be highly critical of herself. She also seems to have set unreasonable standards for herself. The reoccurring line in this poem, “not good enough not pretty enough, not smart enough”, is to emphasize this aspect of her psyche. The poem also mentions how the girl failed to get high grades in exams. This also suggests that her parents were more concerned about the grades she acquires and not truly unconditional in their love for their daughter.

3. As teachers, what is our role to ensure that the students do not take their own life?


- sense something has changed and ask them if they have any problem.
- heart to heart session
- make counseling session 
- during mentor mentee program, teachers need to share some information about nowadays news and give some advices about that.