Suicide is a permanent end to temporary problems. Note the irony in this.
Killing yourself will not solve your problems. Your problems will still exist, only they will no longer be your own. You may not feel the burden any more, but your friends, family, loved ones, and even your acquaintances, the people who you barely know, even people who you DO NOT know, will still feel it!
It's dumb! Even for the religious, we cannot say with any certainty that we are positive what happens to us when we die. Life is a gift! Why throw it away? Do something with it! If you don't like the way it's going, CHANGE IT! Run away, stay home. Meet some new people, get reacquainted with some old friends. Listen to music, enjoy silence. Just don't brood on whatever is hurting you!
- If you're lonely, talk to people. If you believe you have nobody to talk to, you're wrong. If you only want to talk to one person, and cannot, then get over it, and talk to someone else! - If you're conscious about your body/self image, exercise. - If you're conscious about your intelligence, read books. Take classes. - If you have a problem with an addiction, seek help. - If you're feeling angry, get it out! Get a canvas, some paint, and annihilate the canvas with your emotions! Don't turn your rage inwards. Don't turn it against others. Turn it against something that's incapable of feeling pain. Use your imagination! You're so creative in thinking of ways of killing yourself, why not think of a way of getting your hostility out without hurting anyone? Including yourself?
People call suicide "the final resort" -- when there's nothing else, there's suicide.
That's bullshit. Because you know why? To be a final resort, it has to be a resort in the first place, it has to be an option.
SUICIDE IS NOT AN OPTION.
There is nobody here who wants to see you leave -- embrace life. Find out what it is about life that makes it worth living. For some, this is a life long process. For others, the despair wins out and they give up to easily. Don't give up. Never give up.
You're probably always happy, ambitious and excited about life. I'm sure that you think you've been depressed and you'll tell me that if you were able to get out of it, so can anyone else. But you're wrong. Just understand something. People can't talk themselves out of a depression.
It is everyones right, if they so choose, to decide that they don't want to exist anymore.
I'm sure most of you would agree that for every experience you feel, and for every facet of your behavior, there is a physical counterpart in your brain. Your behavior and experiences are subjective manifestations of physical phenomena. Most people have a mechanism in their mind, and their brain, which gives them the desire to live, and the instinct to avoid death. Some people though, have a malfunction in this mechanism and don't see any point in living any longer. If you encounter such a person, or if you know someone who develops such a malfunction, do whatever you can to help them either fix the malfunction, or live as normal a life as possible, despite the malfunction. But if they choose to take their life, do not hold resentment, enmity or any such feelings for this person.
I don't think that anyone should be saying what I'm saying to someone who is depressed. If you know someone who is suicidal, do everything you can to talk him or her out of it. If you can talk him out of it, then suicide, clearly, was not the answer. I agree with you that people should not consider suicide an option because many people choose suicide impulsively, and without thinking it through.
But suicide is an option, and don't hold anything against someone who has committed suicide. Try to understand what they've been through and accept their decision. Also understand that these little nuggets of advice like "read books" or "take classes" will not solve their problems. You must do whatever you can to help them rise out of their depression. But accept their decision, and don't convince yourself that you've been what they've been through. I'm sure it is very painful for anyone who knows someone who has taken his or her own life, but everyone has the right to decide they don't want to continue their life anymore.
I suffer from bipolar disorder and I can therefore understand things from both points of view. I know what it's like to not be able understand why someone would take their life, because I was so happy and motivated. I've also been so depressed that I was considering taking my life. And I'm glad I didn't.
But if someone decides that they don't want to live anymore, don't let that take away any respect that you may have had for them. Don't hold contempt for someone who couldn't continue living their life.
By the way, it was M.C. Escher's belief that if someone was tired of his life, even if he wasn't in deep despair, it was his perogative to end it.
Everytime someone starts talking about suicide (either pro or con), there seems to be an instantaneous division of people into two categories. One (called "Shiny Happy People" by some) says "Suicide is WRONG WRONG WRONG and you are bad/evil/wrong/stupid to even consider it!" The other (called "selfish attention hogs" by others) says "You're stupid and you'll never understand, I bet you've never been unhappy a day in your life!"
The first reaction, I have often found, is based in a deep-seated, culturally-enforced fear of death. The second reaction is often an over-reaction to the first. Neither is a particularly good reaction.
Personally, I feel suicide, like abortion, should be the individual's choice. I know it sucks for you if you're the person left behind, but it is not the job of anyone to suffer so that you don't have to go to a funeral. That said, I strongly wish, as I do for abortion, that people are not driven to suicide as an option. People go on and on about stopping abortion or outlawing suicide, and very rarely bother to address the underlying issues which make people consider doing these things.
I hate people who make suicidal gestures. I hate them because they give a bad name to people who can no longer live their lives (especially those who had no choice in the matter*) and need a way out. There are some people out there who just do not belong in this world - do you really want them to continue to suffer?
As for all this nonsense about "if you're unhappy, change it," there is nothing more likely to make someone feel even worse than that phrase. The depressed person already feels bad and self-critical, and telling them that only confirms their worst fears, that they are horribly deficient in some way because they can't be happy. I have been on both sides of this fence, and I can say with certainty, "If we could, we would."
See Also: thoughts on how religious proscriptions came to be, Shiny Happy People, alt.life.sucks, libertarianism, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas
This is why---and it's the only reason why---I haven't committed suicide yet.
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