Is suicide a cowardly act?

[PLC1]

Sometimes, always, or never?

What do you think?

 

[dogtowner]

Cant picture where it might not be but perhaps there are scenarios where it is thus. Like if you call martyrdom suicide.

 

[Walter]

Cowardly? Most suicides are done during a depressive phase, so how could this be called cowardly...
And under (rare) circumstances when life is truly hopeless and you suffer terrible pain without any chance of being cured, I would do it myself.

 

[Lagboltz]

Cant picture where it might not be but perhaps there are scenarios where it is thus. Like if you call martyrdom suicide.

Western countries can certainly call martyrdom cowardly, but those that become suicide bombers consider themselves heroes, not cowards. It's a matter of perspective.
Some consider suicide as a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

 

[PLC1]

Cowardly? Most suicides are done during a depressive phase, so how could this be called cowardly...
And under (rare) circumstances when life is truly hopeless and you suffer terrible pain without any chance of being cured, I would do it myself.

Probably most of us would, or at least think we'd have the courage to do so, and yet we spend millions trying to extend life a few months when the end is inevitable and there is no quality of life left.

 

[Walter]

there is no quality of life left

The obsession about quantity when you should worry about quality is very common in our society. But this is about the most individual decision you can make.

 

[Walter]

Read this story about a businessman who was diagnosed with inoperable tumour that led him to "this most awful decision":
http://www.theguardian.com/society/...g-dignitas-tumour-paralysis-explains-decision

 

[invest07]

All life is precious and human life is at the top of this mountain.
The wacko Jihadists who blow themselves up do not appear to me to be cowards - deluded and brainwashed but not cowards. (It is the Imams that send them that are the true cowards).
Many people have performed courageous acts to save others by risking (and sometimes giving) their own lives. They are not cowards.
One of my neighbors and a friend committed suicide a few years back. I was torn up about this. I wrestled with whether or not he was a coward to abandon his family or whether it was his right to take what belongs to him: his life. I still have not completely resolved this in my mind.
To take one's own life requires a certain amount of courage. We have been programmed by our maker (or perhaps by thousands of years of evolution) to preserve our own life. So overcoming this requires some backbone.
Life is precious and no life should be needlessly taken.

 

[Charles Franklin]

I don't think suicide is something that you can easily classify because the reasons behind it are so varied. People commit suicide for what (on the outside) may look like more "noble" reasons than others (to save another person, to serve as a distraction, for a political message), but that is a value statement on what we assume someone's mental state is.

No one really knows what's going on inside someone's head except for that person.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

It depends on many things.
How is it being a coward to say when your very sick, I don't want to live in pain like this anymore. I had a good run and I want to end this on my terms. saying you should have to fight to the end is just bullshit put on people who are not ready to lose them yet...and its selfish

Many people who commit suicide get the medal of Honor...( you don't think jumping on a live grenade is suicide?

Many have sever mental issues....its not a act of being brave or not....they have little control over their own feelings and actions. I have a friend who has had to deal with this a lot....she hates the feeling, and trys to tell me if she is feeling it, because she does not want to do something...but she is unbalanced and sometimes she is not able to prevent her from doing something she does not want.

Some are giant pieces of crap...thats people who make a effor to make someone else responsible for it...like jump in front a train...you don't need to wreck someone else's life to take yours.

 

[Charles Franklin]

It depends on many things.
How is it being a coward to say when your very sick, I don't want to live in pain like this anymore. I had a good run and I want to end this on my terms. saying you should have to fight to the end is just bullshit put on people who are not ready to lose them yet...and its selfish

Many people who commit suicide get the medal of Honor...( you don't think jumping on a live grenade is suicide?

Many have sever mental issues....its not a act of being brave or not....they have little control over their own feelings and actions. I have a friend who has had to deal with this a lot....she hates the feeling, and trys to tell me if she is feeling it, because she does not want to do something...but she is unbalanced and sometimes she is not able to prevent her from doing something she does not want.

Some are giant pieces of crap...thats people who make a effor to make someone else responsible for it...like jump in front a train...you don't need to wreck someone else's life to take yours.

I will also agree with you on some of this as well. Judging someone who commits suicide as "cowardly" does not take into account what that person is going through. It does not take into account the:
1. Situation-Was the person saving someone or something?
2. Mental Context-Was the person experiencing or dealing with mental illness?
3. Cultural Context-Is this an accepted way of dealing with an issue in that culture or religion?

All of these things have to be considered when you make a judgement on someone's suicide.

 

[LilAnn]

Sometimes, always, or never?

What do you think?

I was typing out my opinion. When I went back over it I realized that there's a good people say that, regardless of if its true or not. So I won't be sharing my opinion with you, today.

 

[paf_2]

I can't really judge this because I understand first hand the state of mind that can lead person to suicide. Yes, I have been there myself but manage to talk myself out of it. But I know that mind set, that sense of depression, that feeling of helplessness. So, suicide is more complex then some of us may think. I don't think it can easily be classified as a cowards way out.

 

[LilAnn]

I can't really judge this because I understand first hand the state of mind that can lead person to suicide. Yes, I have been there myself but manage to talk myself out of it. But I know that mind set, that sense of depression, that feeling of helplessness. So, suicide is more complex then some of us may think. I don't think it can easily be classified as a cowards way out.

Here's how I judge it... I've been there, too. I didnt talk myself out of it either. I chickened out. I'm still around because I WAS a coward... thank god.

 

[Diana Smith]

I believe that when a person is very ill mentally and very depressed, sometimes they act without being capable of rationalizing it. Similarly when a person is terminally ill and in a huge amount of pain and they decide to end the suffering early then it should be their own choice and not that of the government to give them the go ahead.

It really depends on the situation. When a teenager for example, which is quite common decides that they do not like how their life is going and they attempt to end their life it is not okay. Mental health in the United States should be more openly discussed and I think that if people would talk to their kids about it from a very early age, even including it in school discussions in the elementary years then it may potentially save lives.