Veronika Decides to Die

It was one fine evening when the bear was scanning through the shelf of books that the salmon had in his house that he came across this book. The title itself is what caught the eyes of the bear. The bear was curious as to why the girl wanted to kill herself. Having read the synopsis of the book from the back cover, he decides to have a go at the book. You see, the bear isn't much of a book reader. Most of the reading materials are mainly for study purposes.

The book was about this young girl named Veronika who decides to kill herself. Her reason was she has seen enough of what life had to offer. It's an endless cycle that repeats itself day after day. After the attempt on her life, she regained concious in a mental hospital. She was told that she only had about a week to live since the overdose of sleeping pills has caused irreversible damage to her heart. All Veronika wanted at first was to end her life as soon as possible.

But while she was in the hospital, she found out that there were those in the hospital that are pretending to be crazy. These are the people that does not want to deal with the problems of the world outside. Everyday Veronika grew weaker. In the face of death, Veronika found a new flame to live. Given the limited amount of days to live, she knows that she had nothing to lose. She found courage to do things that she had never thought of doing. Things that are way too radical for most people to do. Things that are deemed to be not what normal people would do. Breaking from the norm, she found her true desires. Fear was never again an issue for her.

The other inmates of the mental institute was also affected by the young women. Having witness how this young girl that fought her days there, they came to rethink about their stay in Villete (the hospital). Through Veronika, the others too began to have the will to live. The will to break free and do what they have always wanted to do.

Death makes us realize what it means to live. Imagine this, if you one day found out that you only have days to live, what would you do? Does all the fame and glory that you seek means anything to you? Does the money you have means anything to you? Does your dignity, reputation and social status still have any importance to you? Does it matter what others think about you? And why only in the eyes of death that we realize this? Wouldn't it be too late?

The bear has said it and will say it again. In doing what we need to do, we must also do what we want to do. Finding a balance between both is always important. Think of what you really need. Is it not just food, water, and shelter to live? Often times we tend to mix up what we need and what we want. Choices are always given. They may not appear right before our eyes. But seek for it. Ask and you shall receive.

Fear has always been what's stopping us from doing things that we want. Like how we want to climb a tree to pick a fruit. We have been taught that it's dangerous. By instilling fear that we might fall and injure ourselves we dare not climb to get the fruit. You may say that there are safer ways to get them but that is what makes it different. The choice we make and the road we take. In the end we get the fruit but the thrill and excitement by climbing the tree has been lost. Remember what matters is not really the destination but it is the journey that counts.

Fear is what places us in a box. A box named as safety zone. A sense of security and being safe. A place where normal people wants and does the same things. A place where they reject what is absurd and abnormal. A place where those of the minority are called as abomination and madmen. Fear is what trapping us from the true desires of the heart. Ask yourself when was the last time you did something that you really desire regardless of what others may think or judge.

~There is always a choice, you just gotta seek them out~