Human Indifference: The Silent Assassin

People to people connection these days is limited to mere materialistic needs

• The indifference to emotions works as silent assassin for it doesn’t kill immediately but makes the person feel completely unworthy which eventually takes situation to suicidal thoughts

By Amit Sukhani

In times when hearts are supposed to get filled with love, minds are getting filled with anomalous thoughts and are not familiar with how to vent out. It’s due to the fact that people to people connection these days is limited to mere materialistic needs. Parents-child connection is more of giving and taking than emotional and moral support leading to latter’s drastic mental health. Friends don’t rely on each other in times of emotional emergency out of fear of being judged. People don’t find people in times of anxiety and heaviness. What remains a viable option for them is to hide their sufferings which kill them daily. They smile publicly but cry privately. They choose silence as perfect weapon to fight their tricky phase. This indifference to emotions works as silent assassin for it doesn’t kill immediately but makes the person feel completely unworthy which eventually takes situation to suicidal thoughts. It can be seen how from minors to adults have been falling for suicidal situations lately. They choose death as an eventual liberation.

When animals live in a huddle for long and suddenly one of their fellow animals goes missing, every animal in that group feels the absence. They would react empathetically and try to find that missing one. Leave alone missing, even one of their fellow animals gets sick, they would start to lurk around that sick animal showing their care and love. Saying this, even voiceless creation of God shows care for each other but humans have been failure here. The tragic death of television actor Humaira Asghar and 77 years old veteran actor, Ayesha Khan left drastic examples of apathetic side of human beings.

Humaira Asghar lived alone and died in her apartment seven months ago but no one noticed her death. For seven months her dead body had been decaying but not a single human could feel her absence. How sadistic! She belonged to the television industry where sense of togetherness is supposed to be there but she was so unfortunate to not even get noticed. More than her death what’s more devastating is the indifference of people on her absence. The last time she was online on social media was in October 2024. The last time she paid rent of her apartment was in September 2024. She used to run charity and some foundations showing her kindest part. Yet no one from industry, family, close ones, and groups she must have been involved in and neighbors cared to ask about her absence. It makes me restless to even think that in times when people are dying to receive single text or call about how are they doing to feel seen and heard, her death was secret for 7 months. These are 7 months after death we got to know about this apathy, imagine months leading to her death. How heavy she could have felt knowing the disregard of humans for her existence. Even thinking about this makes me heavy.

Similarly, Ayesha Khan died but her dead body found traces that she died a week ago. She was also not noticed for days. The shattering fact related to both deaths is that even death delays the attention and care they craved in their life. And they are people who had to die to let the world realize that they were silent yet longed for its attention which world couldn’t offer even not immediately after their death. However, there are many silent faces out there who die daily due to their heavy mind. There are many out there who fall victim into the hands of apathy of their surroundings. They are dying to feel seen and heard. They need people to listen to get over the traumas. They feel lonely even among crowds. They check their phones every now and anon to see the texts of being asked. They walk on the streets alone thinking about their seemingly unworthy existence. They stop talking to people around out of fear of being labeled.

What needs to be done to save these struggling minds from indifference is the emotional intelligence. What needs to understand is that these struggling minds don’t need people to be happy with; they need those who bring their saddest side out. They don’t need celebrations; they need empathy. They don’t need pats on back; they need hugs of reassurance. They don’t need handshakes of approval; they need shoulders to cry on. They don’t need informers; they need listeners. They don’t need solution. They need availability. They need those who notice their presence. Their mental peace lies in realization that they do matter, and there needs to be done a lot to bring that realization among these sensitive weak minds.

Read: Speak Only When Asked!

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Amit Sukhani, hailing from Mithi, Tharparkar, graduated from Institute of English language and Literature Department University of Sindh, Jamshoro, majoring in Linguistics.