A Poll on Death

[PokerAce]

I think suicide is the single most selfish thing a person could do.

The silly little problems that the average person has are so trivial. To think that some people would actually consider taking their lives because of them is ridiculous.

Your wife/girlfriend/etc leaves you? Big deal. You lost your job? Big deal. Have more debt than you can pay off? Big deal. People pick on you at school? Big deal.

Whenever I hear of someone killing themselves, I don't think "that poor person." I don't feel a thing for that person because they were stupid and made a poor decision. I feel awful for that person's family though. That one decision destroyed the lives of so many others.

If a person is miserable, or thinks their life isn't worth living, then they need to change things. Life is constantly changing. I had a miserable life while going to school. I'm sure there are millions of others with similar experiences, and some of them felt it was bad enough to take their lives. Now my life is terrific and so could theirs had they not made that decision.

[ QUOTE ]
I think suicide is the single most selfish thing a person could do.

The silly little problems that the average person has are so trivial. To think that some people would actually consider taking their lives because of them is ridiculous.

Your wife/girlfriend/etc leaves you? Big deal. You lost your job? Big deal. Have more debt than you can pay off? Big deal. People pick on you at school? Big deal.

Whenever I hear of someone killing themselves, I don't think "that poor person." I don't feel a thing for that person because they were stupid and made a poor decision. I feel awful for that person's family though. That one decision destroyed the lives of so many others.

If a person is miserable, or thinks their life isn't worth living, then they need to change things. Life is constantly changing. I had a miserable life while going to school. I'm sure there are millions of others with similar experiences, and some of them felt it was bad enough to take their lives. Now my life is terrific and so could theirs had they not made that decision.

[/ QUOTE ]

I answered "I'm immortal" and "Never think about suicide", but I find your reply to the question interesting. First I don't really think suicide is "the single most selfish thing a person could do." We are leaving off many other things. Raping a grandmother, more selfish. Killing someone, more selfish. Blowing your family's entire savings to play poker, more selfish. In a severely depressed person's state of mind, they are not thinking of others. And even if they are, why should they need to continue their misery just for the sake of people around them? We did not qualify who the suicide people were. What if they are 80? Terminally ill? A paraplegic? I don't think there are many suicides caused by a boyfriend leaving. I DO think many suicides could be prevented if instead of chalking it up to teen angst or a phase, people would actually help and get the depressed person to a shrink. Or any other support system that would help them pull through. Sorry, didn't mean to jump on your post.

[Roy Munson]

Be wary of making blanket statements such as "suicide is selfish". Everyone who considers suicide has different reasons for doing so.

Once one reaches an advanced age and they run out of stimulating things to do, their body deteriorates ever more rapidly, people bore the hell out of them and vice versa then suicide can appear to be a viable option.

Life fatigue and monotony can test many people's resolve. My grandmother lived to 100 and in the last years of her life she spoke of the loneliness of outliving contemporaries and loved ones. This combined with the physical limitations of aging will challenge even the heartiest of people.

Suicide is so -EV. Chip and a chair is all you need.

So many things that we think are major catastrophes in our lives turn out to be just bumps in the road in a year or two. As long as you can draw a breath then you have the opportunity to turn it around.

In the Declaration, it says "that all men are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is my belief that if one has a right to life, one also has the right to terminate it. Your life belongs to you, not the commonwealth, and it is within one's liberties to do what they wish with their own life, including ending it. Along the same lines, if one has the right to the pursuit of happiness, then it would follow that one has the right to take his own life. There are those who live in agony, in excruciating pain, those who have forsaken all hope. To deprive these people of the right to take their own lives is wrong.

"I think suicide is the single most selfish thing a person could do."

What a close-minded view, no doubt you are a Sunday Christian.

[ZenMusician]

I looked for an answer related to
Gambling>Psychology but couldn't
find one!

-ZEN

[PokerAce]

When you take your life, you destroy not only your own life, but the lives of those who love you and you negatively affect the lives of anyone who knows you.

Let's take an average american teenager. This kid dresses funny, acts funny and gets picked on a lot. He has no friends. He starts feeling sorry for himself (boo-hoo) and decides to take a shotgun to his head. This kid, who had no real problems, has just threw away a possible happy future. He has also destroyed the lives of his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. His classmates are all affected, even those who weren't close to him. His actions have accomplished nothing but cause pain for others.

The same situation for the middle-aged man who lost his job, wife and is buried in debt. If this man takes his life, he is destroying the lives of those who loved him. His ex-wife's life is likely destroyed by guilt because she will feel responsible, which she isn't. The boss who fired him may feel responsible, but he isn't. If this man had children, or living parents, siblings or cousins, their lives are turned upside down.

It's a completely different story for the elderly or those with terminal illnesses. They are not wasting their lives, as their lives have been lived and are nearly over. People know they are dying and easing the pain may be a valid choice.

It does not take a "Sunday Christian" (which by the way, I am not) to see that the action of suicide destroys lives. Most people who kill themselves do so because of petty reasons (picked on, no friends, lost wife/job/home, etc). None of these things are worth losing your life and future over and destroying the lives of those who love you.

When a person kills themself, they are not thinking of other people, they are selfishly thinking only of their own pain. They don't bother to reach out for help or to even think about what will happen to those around them once they do it.

Go talk to a mother of a child who has commited suicide for a while and see if you don't think that action was selfish.

[ QUOTE ]
When you take your life, you destroy not only your own life, but the lives of those who love you and you negatively affect the lives of anyone who knows you.

Let's take an average american teenager. This kid dresses funny, acts funny and gets picked on a lot. He has no friends. He starts feeling sorry for himself (boo-hoo) and decides to take a shotgun to his head. This kid, who had no real problems, has just threw away a possible happy future. He has also destroyed the lives of his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. His classmates are all affected, even those who weren't close to him. His actions have accomplished nothing but cause pain for others.

The same situation for the middle-aged man who lost his job, wife and is buried in debt. If this man takes his life, he is destroying the lives of those who loved him. His ex-wife's life is likely destroyed by guilt because she will feel responsible, which she isn't. The boss who fired him may feel responsible, but he isn't. If this man had children, or living parents, siblings or cousins, their lives are turned upside down.

It's a completely different story for the elderly or those with terminal illnesses. They are not wasting their lives, as their lives have been lived and are nearly over. People know they are dying and easing the pain may be a valid choice.

It does not take a "Sunday Christian" (which by the way, I am not) to see that the action of suicide destroys lives. Most people who kill themselves do so because of petty reasons (picked on, no friends, lost wife/job/home, etc). None of these things are worth losing your life and future over and destroying the lives of those who love you.

When a person kills themself, they are not thinking of other people, they are selfishly thinking only of their own pain. They don't bother to reach out for help or to even think about what will happen to those around them once they do it.

Go talk to a mother of a child who has commited suicide for a while and see if you don't think that action was selfish.

[/ QUOTE ]

So your argument is suicide is selfish because it with destroy those around you. So conversely, you are saying people should live for the welfare of those around them. I'm not so sure about that. Do you live your life for the contentment of your friends and family?
I also think it is a gross generalization when you say most people kill themselves for petty reasons. People kill themselves because they don't see any other way out. Have you ever had a bad nightmare? You know that feeling of hopelessness, of despair? What if you couldn't wake up from that nightmare, and that nightmare was your reality?
Like I stated earlier, I believe if one has a right to life, they also have a right to death.

[Brudder Andrusha]

Have you ever had a bad nightmare? You know that feeling of hopelessness, of despair? What if you couldn't wake up from that nightmare, and that nightmare was your reality?

I find it petty that you didn't try to seek help before you pulled the trigger.

hmmm

Interesting that learnt from somewhere how to pull the trigger.

ThankYou&DriveThru