Suicide

[bennyboy]

My take on the issue of suicide is that I personally feel it is wrong for anyone to assume it is a selfish act. If someone is hurting that much, that they feel they can no longer stand the cause of their pain, that no one truly cares or loves them, that  for THEM, the only logical way to end such pain is to end their life, then there isn't a thing, person or ideal that will convince them otherwise. If all of their cries for help have gone ignored and they truly feel they are suffering inside, what ever is internally tormenting them, must end and they are not being selfish, but looking for a way to end their suffering. If there is question about who gets left behind and hurt by those actions, then perhaps those individuals should be paying attention to the signs before hand and take the situation seriously, but the suicidal person IS crying out for help and they are feeling ignored.

When life gets to that point, it takes a ton of work to help the person. It takes a lot of patience and love and understanding and sometimes all of those things just might not be enough. It is a horrible thing to have to experience when someone you love does this, but not at any time should it ever be considered selfish.

I don't believe anyone said that it was, I haven't read all the comments, but that's just my personal opinion on the matter.

I appreciate your sensitivity, and it really is an issue that requires it.  However, I'd say that almost all immoral acts are rooted in human weakness.  What if I say I'm in psychological pain and the only way I can solve it is to have sex with my secretary?  Should my wife understand when I cave into the psychological pressure?  What if I'm a tortured soul, and so I beat other people up?  Can I say, "Those people shouldn't have ignored the signs that I was becoming enraged"?

It is definitely selfish to act for one's own hardship despite knowing it will cause hardship for others.  The essence of moral behavior is. . . don't do that.

That doesn't mean that the suicidal person can control her behavior, or was a bad person.  But clearly, acting to cause suffering in others is immoral, whether one is in a mind to see that or not.