Killing yourself: Could you do it?

[Agayek]

It depends on the situation, but it would have to be me rather forcefully being used against my friends/allies (ie, Han, Leia and Chewy being held and tortured in Cloud City, for a rather nerdy reference). If it's just personal damage/whatever, I'd fight until my captors killed me.

I'd also choose death if I had a terminal illness and was incapable of taking care of myself. At that point, I have nothing further to contribute to anything, so I may as well minimize my consumption of resources.

 

[wulfy42]

Many people in this thread have said suicide is the cowards way out. That is not true in many situations. If you a going to be a drain on society and need other people to take care of you or even if you are not going to be able to enjoy life anymore due to constant pain or extreme handicap I see nothing wrong at all with killing yourself. People need to feel like there is a point for them being alive and if there is none I suggest it is a cowardly person who goes on living even though there is no purpose to it.

Obviously if you have people dependent on you or that would grieve if you died that would change things (Although at some point you would have to balance your pain and suffering against their sadness and the pleasure you might bring them by staying alive)

Just suddenly deciding that you want to kill yourself because your girlfriend broke up with you or something is pretty silly I agree, although I still don't think actually killing yourself should be considered cowardly (takes a fair amount of guts to pull it off in most cases although with pills etc I guess you could do it pretty easily).

I would suggest trying to find a way to make your life useful first even if it meant just spending all your time helping others. If your life has no meaning to you, or you can not find joy in life for some reason anymore you could still help other people enjoy their lives more. That would probably take more courage then killing yourself (not to mention self-sacrifice at least from your current perspective) but it would also give yourself a chance to get past whatever made you want to kill yourself in the first place.

There is indeed a point to suicide though, and often it is probably the best option. Life can be a joy or it can be hell, and given time it can change drastically from one extreme to another. One second you could hate life and find no purpose in living and just a few months later feel the exact opposite. If everyone on this planet just cared about each other and helped as they could we would live in a paradise and nobody would ever want to commit suicide except in the case of horrible accidents. I do not think people should be forced to live in extreme agony though just because it's "wrong" to kill someone or help them kill themselves.

 

[Mechanix]

Depends on what kind of pain I would face if I fought until the bitter end. Otherwise, yes I could do it, but only with a gun, noose, or jumping from a high height. I wouldn't do it with any other weapon.

 

[Spoonius]

People need to feel like there is a point for them being alive and if there is none I suggest it is a cowardly person who goes on living even though there is no purpose to it.

I disagree. If a person considers him or herself to be living without a purpose, then making or adopting a purpose should become their primary concern. In my opinion, even survival is a worthy purpose, as lack of direction is never permanent, and simply by enduring can one discover a worthy goal.

Suicide may not necessarily be a cowardly option, but it's almost always the easy option.

As for the rest of your post though, I completely agree with you. Well said.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

To everyone, regardless of what your answer is:

Prove it, then report back with your answer.


Anything else is just so much hyperbole.