How a lack of compassion can drive one to despair and hopelessness
Last Thursday morning in a town outside of Lausanne, Switzerland, a 56-year old French nurse set herself on fire as three foreclosure officials and two police officers arrived at her apartment. Newspapers reported that she was about to lose her $800,000 apartment due to her $20,000 debts she had accumulated during a burnout.
In the comments, people spoke of her mental health, solitude due to Covid lockdowns, and they criticized the officials for their treatment of her. Some criticized her for not getting help.
Life can be hard for expats living alone in a foreign country.
Krishnamurti said that “suicide comes, after all, either from complete despair, brought about through deep frustration, or from insoluble fear, or from the awareness of the meaninglessness of a certain way of living.”
Self-immolation is done for political reasons. The Swiss press is treating it as personal drama.
Sadly, no one seems to be questioning how society or government treats its people.