My Perspective on Suicide

An online friend of mine sent me a private message before asking me what my opinion is on suicide.

Here's what I replied back to him...

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That's a complex question. I have never been asked that before. Suicide isn't that bad as society makes it out to be, however, it is something that isn't necessarily good nor should be glorified either. Suicide can be selfish in a sense where your loved ones will be mourning after you and that there would be one less family member to accompany and take care of your older family members. It can also be selfish if you're the only child in your family yet didn't bother having children to carry on your family's bloodline. And it can be selfish if you haven't produced anything much nor left any will for your family whereas your parents sacrificed their body and life to feed and raise you. Some persons or people who are close to those who committed suicide would often blame themselves for having to cause that person's suicide, and so in a sense it is selfish to have an innocent or good person be left with guilt and/or loneliness for the rest of their life. There already have been failed suicide attempts, for example, where a person tried to hang herself only to end up having to live with brain damage for a lifetime...that creates more of a burden for her friends and family. If the suicide was done in a bloody or gruesome manner, other people would get traumatized for life and have to clean up after your mess...so that itself is selfish. There are also incidents where one family member commits suicide, then the next, and another, and so-on-so-forth. Bizarre situations like that are very rare but they do happen. Copy cat suicides are relatively common though especially if that person has followers or admirers.

On the other hand, it is not selfish to commit suicide in a sense where you would no longer be a burden upon your friends, family, the community, and/or the environment. From another perspective, it is rather selfish to force or pressure a person to continually live when that person absolutely abhors their life and desperately wants to have it come to an end. Death is better than physical + spiritual long-term suffering anyway. I can't say 100% for sure whether or not a person who commits suicide would never go to heaven but at least that person would no longer have to deal with this hell of a planet. I never really looked into religious scriptures nor principles on suicide but oftentimes it's discouraged. Often people say suicide is cowardly, sure choosing to no longer face anymore challenges in this world may be cowardly itself yet I think it takes a lot of courage to commit suicide as humans have the need to live as long as possible and reproduce to carry on their lineage and the species. It is part of human nature to survive as long as possible...and to go against that is really something, however, some would argue that the strongest people are the ones who live the longest (i.e. natural selection, the survival of the fittest). It certainly does take a very strong character to continually deal with all the crap on this planet head on until physical death when they could have chosen a permanent solution and the quickest way out...that I cannot argue with. It's very admirable for a good person to continually choose life over death in a world full of vice and evil. I'm not going to say suicide is good nor immoral but it's certainly not the first solution I would recommend either, more like a last resort. Here's the thing though, the world would be a lot better if only bad people commit suicide, however, more oftentimes than not it is the innocent or good who usually do. It should be the other way around as good parents are more likely to produce good kids and bad parents are more likely to produce bad kids. This definitely has an impact on humanity and its future. This world needs more good role models, that's for sure.