We're all going to die one day..so why is suicide wrong?
Why is suicide wrong? We're all going to die.some of us just want to die earlier than others. You say think of your family and friends who will be devastated if you commit suicide..will they be jumping for joy if I died a natural death?
Scroll to see replies
really? I'd be equally upset if someone I love died at the age of 20 or 70. Also, what if I die in an accident today? Will they be less upset than they would be if I committed suicide today?
You know in a way..suicide is a way of telling life..**** YOU life..you don't get to decide when I'm going to die. I'm going out on my own terms
Original post by wannabebrit
really? I'd be equally upset if someone I love died at the age of 20 or 70. Also, what if I die in an accident today? Will they be less upset than they would be if I committed suicide today?
I think they would be more upset.
If you were to commit suicide it would mean you were really unhappy, which wouldn't be a nice thought for family.
Suicide is a way of showing that you're so weak that you can't handle the pressure of life.
Living to a grand old age and going out comfortably and with dignity is how you win the game.
Living to a grand old age and going out comfortably and with dignity is how you win the game.
Original post by Aspiringlawstudent
Suicide is a way of showing that you're so weak that you can't handle the pressure of life.
Living to a grand old age and going out comfortably and with dignity is how you win the game.
Living to a grand old age and going out comfortably and with dignity is how you win the game.
Like everything, there's another way to look at this.
Suicide is also a way of showing you have the strength to do something about it when you're in a bad position.
I have been through some sh*t, and sometimes people tell me about how I'm strong and they respect that. But they're wrong - the only reason I am still alive is because I was too weak to do myself in when things got tough. I let it happen to me, and did not take the only way out of the situation. What right do I have to complain about what happened to me when I didn't solve the problem, despite knowing the solution?
To the OP, I agree.
Our bodies are the only thing which always should belong to us, no matter what the circumstances. Society does not agree, they want to control your own body. They prevent you from putting drugs into it, you can be sectioned for harming it too badly, and everyone will abandon you should you want to kill it.
My body is my own. I don't appreciate society and gov't deciding that they in fact own my body.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by wannabebrit
You say think of your family and friends who will be devastated if you commit suicide..will they be jumping for joy if I died a natural death?
You sidestep the point beautifully. Of course your family and friends would be devastated if you died under any circumstances. But if you'd lived a long, happy life, then at least they wouldn't spend the rest of their lives wondering why they didn't know you spent all of your life depressed, wishing there was anything they could've done to help, asking themselves whether they were at all to blame, and so on. Death is always a tragedy, which is why no one wants to think that your life was so bad that you chose death over it.
Original post by generalebriety
You sidestep the point beautifully. Of course your family and friends would be devastated if you died under any circumstances. But if you'd lived a long, happy life, then at least they wouldn't spend the rest of their lives wondering why they didn't know you spent all of your life depressed, wishing there was anything they could've done to help, asking themselves whether they were at all to blame, and so on. Death is always a tragedy, which is why no one wants to think that your life was so bad that you chose death over it.
You think that it's better to not tell your family what is going on? Put a happy mask over your troubles and let them all live in the dark?
If you are honest and speak to your family (which often eases people's pain somewhat - and they should want to help), then they know your are living an unhappy life and they know the causes of it.
At the end of the day, if someone's life is so bad they want to commit suicide, they should be able to without the guilt. Their pain is unbearable, whereas family will recover. I agree with the OP that it isn't that different from a natural death, but also with you that it is different, and more painful. Just I don't think it's majorly different.
Original post by lightburns
You think that it's better to not tell your family what is going on? Put a happy mask over your troubles and let them all live in the dark?
If you are honest and speak to your family (which often eases people's pain somewhat - and they should want to help), then they know your are living an unhappy life and they know the causes of it.
At the end of the day, if someone's life is so bad they want to commit suicide, they should be able to without the guilt. Their pain is unbearable, whereas family will recover. I agree with the OP that it isn't that different from a natural death, but also with you that it is different, and more painful. Just I don't think it's majorly different.
If you are honest and speak to your family (which often eases people's pain somewhat - and they should want to help), then they know your are living an unhappy life and they know the causes of it.
At the end of the day, if someone's life is so bad they want to commit suicide, they should be able to without the guilt. Their pain is unbearable, whereas family will recover. I agree with the OP that it isn't that different from a natural death, but also with you that it is different, and more painful. Just I don't think it's majorly different.
thank god there's someone who agrees with me
lol, alright then.
Anyone that wants to top themselves, go ahead. We don't care that much.
Anyone that wants to top themselves, go ahead. We don't care that much.
Original post by Cicerao
Loved ones: "Could we have done more? Could we have done anything to save them? Were there signs we missed? Was it our fault?"
Not really nice.
Not really nice.
i don't agree. they should understand i'm in a much happier place
Original post by wannabebrit
thank god there's someone who agrees with me
I have a rare medical condition that is so bad that it drives many to attempt suicide.. Of the ones that are known about (this does not include the people who never tell people that this is why they commit suicide), 50% attempt to take their own life before the age of 20 in the UK.
I think a lot of the people (not all of them) who are adamantly against suicide just don't have knowledge of the situation. It's like the people who live in UK and say "look how absolutely wonderful and good the world is, it's so good it proves God!" when there are millions of people starving.
As an atheist, I believe that this life is probably it. And because of that, if you can survive, it's better to, because you never know how life might improve. Death is final, you don't get to change your mind.
Having said that, I think people that have been in bad places have a much greater understanding of why suicide is okay in some circumstances. Many, many people could not understand my self-harming simply because they had not been through anything bad enough to cause such depression. What chance do they have to understand suicide?
(edited 13 years ago)
Governments and medical authorities most often all conform to the one view that suicide is something that should be prevented under all circumstances, and thus you get what other users have described above as the loss of the right to control your own body in whatever way you like. Suicide is stigmatised in almost any official way - even the name paints it as something assumed wrong - to commit suicide; suicide victim.
I've always been an open supporter of the right to end one's own life, but at the same time what I think is most important is that a person is emotionally mature enough to handle such a concept and decision. How can we tell that? We can't, and sometimes we can't even if we are that person, so it creates a lot of grey areas regarding whether it seems right or wrong. I don't think personally there is a right or wrong when it comes to suicide.
To give a crude, simple example, to me it would seem absurd for a young person, who still has a lot to learn in life, to commit suicide on the eve of breaking up from a relationship, whether it was long or short. That's an example of someone making an unfortunate and rash decision without giving themselves time to think about anything properly. On the other hand, someone young or old, who has taken a lot of time and thought into making the decision, feels that either they are already satisfied by everything they've gone through in life or feels they have gone through so much that they'd rather not continue, makes the decision to end his/her life. This person makes sure to carefully tie up loose ends in relationships and let everyone important know how they should feel about this person. This is a person who is mature and should not be criticised for making the decision.
There are also things that trigger people to commit suicide. If someone has been depressed for a long time, has made efforts to move his/her world to make things better, but in the end suffers a huge emotional blow and decides enough is enough, how can we blame this person? Humans don't have the ridiculous optimism of Hollywood movies and teenage fiction. This is different to the relationship example I wrote before. Someone I knew was going through awful depression but making every effort to pull through it with her boyfriend and her very supportive friends. After becoming pregnant, she felt she could really make a new start and help herself, but then the miscarriage came. It was the last straw, and she sadly decided she couldn't go on anymore and start everything again. It's this sort of suicide that makes people feel the deepest sadness and regret - that despite everyone pulling together to help, the outcome still ends tragically. This is sad because it happened, but people should not feel they carry responsibility for not preventing it. Nothing of this was the fault of the person who died, or the people who tried to help.
But you know, suicide isn't always a product of misery. For someone who has tied up all loose ends in their life, decided on the action carefully, and really feels it is what they consciously want to do, do you think they feel miserable? Not everyone walks off that bridge with tears and total melancholy. Governments and medical authorities, for the reason of sticking to the 'prevailing morality' as such, could not accept that the decision to commit suicide could be a conscious, sensible or even positive decision to some. People don't realise that some people who decide to end their lives do so feeling relieved, philosophically satisfied with their decision, and having a genuine optimism about leaving the world. I know because I've known people like this. Doctors and psychiatrists either refuse to accept that a person could think that way, or that thinking in such a way is some form of delusion requiring treatment. And then people wonder why some people adamently refuse to find 'help'.
To sum up this post, I do not believe in a right or wrong when it comes to suicide. There is prepared and unprepared, emotionally mature and immature, foresight and impulse (impluse not necessarily being immature), and finally, optimism and acceptance, and melancholy depression as two ends of a wide spectrum.
I've always been an open supporter of the right to end one's own life, but at the same time what I think is most important is that a person is emotionally mature enough to handle such a concept and decision. How can we tell that? We can't, and sometimes we can't even if we are that person, so it creates a lot of grey areas regarding whether it seems right or wrong. I don't think personally there is a right or wrong when it comes to suicide.
To give a crude, simple example, to me it would seem absurd for a young person, who still has a lot to learn in life, to commit suicide on the eve of breaking up from a relationship, whether it was long or short. That's an example of someone making an unfortunate and rash decision without giving themselves time to think about anything properly. On the other hand, someone young or old, who has taken a lot of time and thought into making the decision, feels that either they are already satisfied by everything they've gone through in life or feels they have gone through so much that they'd rather not continue, makes the decision to end his/her life. This person makes sure to carefully tie up loose ends in relationships and let everyone important know how they should feel about this person. This is a person who is mature and should not be criticised for making the decision.
There are also things that trigger people to commit suicide. If someone has been depressed for a long time, has made efforts to move his/her world to make things better, but in the end suffers a huge emotional blow and decides enough is enough, how can we blame this person? Humans don't have the ridiculous optimism of Hollywood movies and teenage fiction. This is different to the relationship example I wrote before. Someone I knew was going through awful depression but making every effort to pull through it with her boyfriend and her very supportive friends. After becoming pregnant, she felt she could really make a new start and help herself, but then the miscarriage came. It was the last straw, and she sadly decided she couldn't go on anymore and start everything again. It's this sort of suicide that makes people feel the deepest sadness and regret - that despite everyone pulling together to help, the outcome still ends tragically. This is sad because it happened, but people should not feel they carry responsibility for not preventing it. Nothing of this was the fault of the person who died, or the people who tried to help.
But you know, suicide isn't always a product of misery. For someone who has tied up all loose ends in their life, decided on the action carefully, and really feels it is what they consciously want to do, do you think they feel miserable? Not everyone walks off that bridge with tears and total melancholy. Governments and medical authorities, for the reason of sticking to the 'prevailing morality' as such, could not accept that the decision to commit suicide could be a conscious, sensible or even positive decision to some. People don't realise that some people who decide to end their lives do so feeling relieved, philosophically satisfied with their decision, and having a genuine optimism about leaving the world. I know because I've known people like this. Doctors and psychiatrists either refuse to accept that a person could think that way, or that thinking in such a way is some form of delusion requiring treatment. And then people wonder why some people adamently refuse to find 'help'.
To sum up this post, I do not believe in a right or wrong when it comes to suicide. There is prepared and unprepared, emotionally mature and immature, foresight and impulse (impluse not necessarily being immature), and finally, optimism and acceptance, and melancholy depression as two ends of a wide spectrum.
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by wannabebrit
Why is suicide wrong? We're all going to die.some of us just want to die earlier than others. You say think of your family and friends who will be devastated if you commit suicide..will they be jumping for joy if I died a natural death?
I think you'll only ever find people saying suicide is morally "wrong" when they're tackling it from an absolutist religious perspective. It will be interesting to see how views on suicide change over the next century or so when medical/biological advances make it possible for us to live significantly longer than we are now. In a sense, we're already far surpassing the sort of ages we have evolved to live to because of modern medicine and our (relatively) easy lives.
Original post by Piers-
I think you'll only ever find people saying suicide is morally "wrong" when they're tackling it from an absolutist religious perspective. It will be interesting to see how views on suicide change over the next century or so when medical/biological advances make it possible for us to live significantly longer than we are now. In a sense, we're already far surpassing the sort of ages we have evolved to live to because of modern medicine and our (relatively) easy lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0RaTnDyBs4
Its wrong if you throw yourself infront of a train so I get home from work late.
Original post by lightburns
You think that it's better to not tell your family what is going on? Put a happy mask over your troubles and let them all live in the dark?
Absolutely the opposite, actually. But my opinion isn't really relevant, and the intention behind my previous post was not to give my opinion, it was to explain why suicide is viewed as worse than "natural" death. I think it's reasonable to suggest that any self-respecting parent would feel guilty after the suicide of their child, regardless of how much they had spoken about it - which often isn't much.
Original post by lightburns
At the end of the day, if someone's life is so bad they want to commit suicide, they should be able to without the guilt. Their pain is unbearable, whereas family will recover.
I understand the sentiment behind this part of your post, but I think you're rather oversimplifying. Firstly, not everyone experiencing suicidal tendencies is necessarily in the right state of mind to make a sufficiently rational, informed decision to kill themselves or not to, particularly if these feelings were caused by something like being on the wrong medication. Secondly, you don't know the family would recover; in fact, I can very easily envisage a situation where someone might feel so irrecoverably depressed after the suicide of a close relative that they themselves commit suicide (or lose their job, or become an alcoholic, or split up with their partner, or...).
(Of course, it works both ways. Some people feel so guilty at the idea of devastating their families that they can't bring themselves to commit suicide, which might in turn make them and their families a lot less happy in the long run. Or whatever. None of this is really important, and this post certainly isn't a statement of my opinion. If anything, all I'm saying is that suicide, like a lot of emotional situations, is very complex and can't be dealt some kind of blanket treatment, and offering some explanations of other people's views on suicide.)
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Absolutely furious with the NHS
- Shouldn't Euthanasia be made freely available to all sick old people now? because
- Are you allowed to drink things other than water in exams?
- Trauma following an attempt to 'end it'?
- Suicides at Oxford
- ex unblocked me
- my mum is refusing to go to the hospital
- Ban on single-use plastic cutlery comes into force in England
- An Inspector Calls
- Bf admitted he was going to cheat on me in order to end relationship CONTENT WARNING
- I want to give up
- Making Mr Love Proud: Chasing A* (23-24)
- Forced to wear Pakistani clothes in a western country
- Am I in the wrong?
- What's it like living in England?
- Work hard but still get ****** grades :/?
- Am I a terrible uni housemate?
- Is my anxiety chronic?
- friend advice needed (again) more of a vent but wtf idrc
- Is Hertfordshire really expensive?
Latest
Trending
Last reply 4 days ago
My friend might be getting extra time and i hate it.Last reply 4 days ago
Just found out about UCL stat test but can't afford to sit itLast reply 2 weeks ago
Dad keeps criticising my university degree choiceLast reply 2 weeks ago
Is this pathetic or genuinely something to be upset aboutTrending
Last reply 4 days ago
My friend might be getting extra time and i hate it.Last reply 4 days ago
Just found out about UCL stat test but can't afford to sit itLast reply 2 weeks ago
Dad keeps criticising my university degree choiceLast reply 2 weeks ago
Is this pathetic or genuinely something to be upset about
