Special scar

It was a fine evening and I was traveling back home from university for vacation. I was enjoying the music and planning for my weekends. Meanwhile, I received a phone call from my crony. I attended the phone immediately his voice was perturbed I didn't understand initially but I knew something was wrong so, I gave him some time to relax.

After several minutes of silence, he spoke to me and his words were heart-aching. He said, " Sherry, I think Allah is punishing my family for my sins". I asked the reason for his words he replied " Two days ago bano tried to commit suicide by cutting her wrist". I was stunned for a moment But again I asked "is she ok" he replied, " Yes the wound was not too deep and she was saved but she isn't in the same band anymore". After the conversation, I couldn't believe how can a beautiful soul and full of life &joy did such an evil thing. He asked me for my help because he was shattered completely and didn't trust anyone, Because in Pakistani society people always taunt you and make your life more miserable instead of helping. They usually consider mental illness as black magic. Bano is a younger sister to me, we grew up together in the same hometown and we have very close family relations.

Recently I have become a member of the CBS(Character building society) of my university and I became a member of the Counseling domain and head of the domain is my mentor his name is Mr. Owais Mughal. I contacted him and he guided me in this situation. I also contacted another friend from my class. She is very intelligent, jolly, and a good soul. I asked her for help in this current situation and her words helped me a lot. The next day I went to my friend's house and saw his family suffering but yet they met me very warmly. I went to the bano room with her brother. After knocking at the door we entered the room and saw bano sitting on the bed watching through the windows and hinking very deeply so, i approached her very slowly and saw bandages on her hands. I gently asked her "Bano how are you?" She slowly raised her head towards me with a little smile and replied "I am fine" She was very calm but yet again she was hiding her feelings. After a little chat, I left the room and went to the tv lounge where her parents told me the whole story. It was her long-time fiance who broke up with her for his parents without any reason. She was pretending as if nothing happened and didn't even talk about it so we didn't ask her anything but now I came to know that she was suffering silently, She needed help but we were careless. She couldn't handle the rejection and pain so she took a step to end her suffering. Bano has always been polite and naive. She always trusted people immediately and most of the time she suffered the consequences but I think this time she had enough.

The next day I went again to their home with my parents. After a long conversation with Bano's parents and her fiance's parents on the phone, they all decided to arrange a jirga. The next day every one arrived at the jirga(A decisionsmade by the elders) and the debate was getting very hot.

After hearing everyone's stances it was decided by the elders that her fiance's parents were greedy and they also didn't know about the bano suicide attempt. When they came to know they were shocked everyone was shivering and immediately they asked for forgiveness. Initially, Bano's parents weren't forgiving them but by the passage of time, everyone melted and forgave each other for the sake of their kid's future. In short, her fiance arrived at the scene they patched up they both were in tears. Everything was forgiven. On the same day, elders and both parents decide the date of their marriage. I could see the light of life again in her eyes. After this whole situation I was thinking that mental health is so much important it is a very basic issue in our society that we ignore.

I want to let the people know that search around you find the people who need help because it's always the person who you ignore because they laugh too much or hide too much, you should ask your loved ones often how they're doing. And maybe one day you will be able to save the life of the person you care about.