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Originally Posted by Medusa99
My brother committed suicide. I guess he didn't really have "responsibilities"; no wife and kids to worry about, but he still had family that loved him. I guess he did it because he was tired of suffering. I would never presume to judge someone for committing suicide; you can never truly know until you walk in someone's shoes.
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I guess i'm just a judgemental sort of guy. I assess things and in that process I make a judgement on what I think is the correct course of action(s). It's open to change, but I will always attempt to have a strong idea of what is "right" and "wrong" so that if I find myself in a difficult or ambiguous situation I can better deal with it in my mind.
Attempting to sort out my position on suicide is difficult right now because of the ambiguous nature of "responsiblity". I could say you have a responsibility to your own person in staying alive, but that would eliminate all possibility of a correct form of suicide, which I believe is something that can be "right" in certain situations.
I could also say that the only responsibility a person has is to themselves, and if they decided on commiting suicide, we have no right to stop them. However, I could not bring myself to stand by and watch my best friend who I care for very much and depend on kill himself.
My final conclusion that I came to is that... when a person commits suicide, they cut all ties in their lives. I'll take up the analogy of interconnected webs. A person is like a ball in the center of a web, which is made up of strands. Each strand connects to other people. The strands vary in thickness/strength, depending on how much other people depend on the person (love, economic security, stability etc.)
Someone who commits suicide has the belief (mistaken or not) that these strands are very weak, or nonexistent, and that it is a struggle to keep their ball supported by their web. They give up trying, and let it fall. I feel this moment, where they give up on their remaining responsibilities and stop struggling to connect to new webs, is COWARDLY. They took the easy way out. Life is just too damn hard, so let's just give up and die already.
The other problem is the slack in the other webs that is created when a person lets their ball fall through. Their strands are broken, and with nothing supporting them, wherever another person depends on the person, it just made life that much more difficult for them. It is SELFISH to pass your burdens onto another. Those people that loved and cared for you just lost stability in their webs, because you let the ball drop. It also causes strain on the other strands as they pick up your slack.
That said, I do still feel there are legimate times when suicide could be an appropriate action, if you should choose to do so. At the end of life, when you have fufilled many obligations and responsibilities, and lived a long life full of experience. People still care for you, but there is very little dependance on your life, mostly because since you are aged and people have prepared for the possibility of your death.
Another is when death is certain (in the close future, eg. terminal cancer) and your quality of life is reduced to the point where you can no longer enjoy it, in addition to the anticipated pain and suffering before your end.
A third although unlikely possibility is through self-sacrifice, saving many lives with your own. Taking your own life to save other ones isn't really suicide though, is it? I guess it's called self-sacrifice for a reason.
Am I right or wrong? I'm don't think i'll ever be sure, and my position will change over time as I get new information and insight into an issue like this.