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With the recent passing of the second person I have known due to suicide, I thought I would raise the issue of the morality of such acts. (RIP fella).

Do you believe that suicide is an acceptable escape from the turmoil of life, or should people live to face their 'natural' death? There are many religious influences in some folks opinion on the matter, but in such a secular society of today these are often overlooked in favour of standard issues of morality based upon an individuals life experience.

Does a person have the right to end their own life on their own terms if they feel that life itself is too much of a destructive part of their own mental sanctuary? When considering the barbaric mental anguish that some must go through, is it fair to say that actually committing suicide is somehow heroic in the sense that you have to truly go against your natural instincts?

Please discuss, with a degree of sensitivity.

I think its up to the person to decide if they want to kill them selves.

Its their life their body so why does it involve the government for.

EDIT: also it could mean anything really

1. dont want to be taken prisoner in a war

2. You believe life after death

I am very sorry to hear about you're friend,i will pray for him and his family!
I am fully against suicide for 2-3 reason:
1)I am a religious man, Christianity condemns suicide as perhaps the worse thing you can do, rejecting God.
2)Suicide is also a sign defeat and failure which I for one cannot accept.
3)I'd leave a lot of searing pain behind, and hurt the people i love which i cannot accept!

I hope this helps mate...

Interesting insights definitely.

I didn't want to put across my own view initially because it would undoubtedly obscure the impartiality of the discussion. Whilst I appreciate your good gestures too Ashu, regarding the young man that has taken his life, he wasn't someone particularly close but yet still someone I know. We went to junior school years ago and I saw his face about once or twice over the years. It was still a shock however to learn that he had taken the path he chose. As far as I know, he was in a successful job and was made redundant, and struggled for a while. Of course, there would no doubt be more to it than that, so it is useless to speculate on his circumstances I guess.

King Eomer, I agree almost entirely with your comment about it being upto the individual. Your life, your body. However, there is still something there which niggles me and is reflected by Ashu's comment about suicide being an acceptance of defeat and failure. I understand that it must be tremendously difficult to overcome the human desire to live, and whilst I respect a person being able to take their own choice, there is always that feeling that whilst you still have your life you are still capable of anything you want to do no matter how low you get.

We have all been in some low times in our lives. Some worse than others, and sometimes it is hard to describe just how low it got for fear of someone ridiculing your experience as 'nothing much at all'...

And I apologise refusely as I have lost my train of thought due to a phone call half way through this post.

EDIT: I think that was what I was going to get at Saiyan - concerning the individuals you traumatise in taking your life.

I agree with Ashu.

There are people without water,food,clothing or anything we take for granted yet those people don't even think about it!I think suicide is something very harmful and while you can say "its my body i will do what i want" your still responsible for the people that love you in your life, and the life that God gave.I agree with SS!

IMHO...its the ultimate form of cowardice and i dont accept for 1 second the argument of "its my life/body, i'll do as i damn well please" for one simple reason....there are people of all ages out there who are gravely ill. i want to see a healthy person contemplating suicide to look a child who has say leukaemia-to look that child (and the child's parents) in the eyes and tell them they want to commit suicide or life ain't worth living.



hey Louis, long time no speak buddy, hows things?

Interesting how religion & culture play a large part in how suicide is percieved.

In Japan for example it is still considered a way to preserve or restore honour to a family or person.

Indeed, Japan has a different view regarding it.
Also, Cleopatra prefered to commite suicide by being bitten by a cobra rather than being captured by Octavus and brought in Roma as a trophee.

And so its rather silly to condemn another person for it, you have no idea of the events that led them to the conclusion that suicide was their remaining option or of their choice of religion/culture which may in fact approve of such an action.

culture is no excuse for throwing away the gift of life when others suffer with terrible illnesses, sometimes for years, only to die with no choice or chance of life. look at suicide through those peoples eyes...stuck in a body that doesn't work and watching others throwing away what they long for, health....

its the same principal as food, we throw away food while somewhere in the world a person/child dies of starvation...

sorry, but that's the way i see it.

I won't be too quick to condemn suicide, because I don't think someone with an existence as sheltered and privileged as my own can fully comprehend how dire and desperate someone's circumstances would have to be in order for them to think that the only solution was to take their own life. All I can draw upon is my own personal experience.

A friend of mine killed themselves about eighteen months ago, and I was angry. Angry at them, and angry at myself. I was angry at them because I'd been talking to them normally for a weeks prior to the event, and everything seemed fine. He hadn't told anybody that he was depressed, or anxious, or anything like that. As far as knew, everything seemed normal. I was angry at him for not letting any of us now, and for not giving us the chance to help him.

And of course I was angry at myself for not realizing. For not somehow picking up on what was happening and doing what I could to stop it. I felt absurdly guilty. But then again, how could I have known? If he didn't tell anybody or say anything then how I could have magically or psychically picked up on it? Even though I knew it wasn't logical to feel so bad about it, I was cut up nonetheless. Like humans do. That, to me, was selfish. I still miss him, though.