Question from an Agnostic for the Atheists in the room....?

There may be cases where I can sympathize with suicide, such as those living in incessant pain with no hope of ever being cured or relieved. In most cases I see suicide as the ultimate act of selfishness, especially those cases where they decide to take out a bunch of other people with them.

I think it's something that you cannot make a 100% completely encompassing statement about that can or will apply to every situation.

Is the person terminally ill? Are they terminally ill and in chronic pain? How bad is the pain? If they're terminally ill and not in pain, how much mental and/or emotional pain are they in, from living with the knowledge of their illness? Are they not terminally ill, but just have a painful chronic progressive illness? What if there's no physical pain or no disease at all? Is there emotional pain? If so, how bad is it? From what - past or present? How deep does said pain run? Have they tried to get professional help and it failed? What if they did, and it's not failing? And etc and etc.

From personal experience, I've found that the majority of people who commit suicide do so to end some kind of pain they are in - emotional, physical, or mental. And who am I to judge the measures of pain they're in? Who am I to think, "Oh, that's not that bad - chin up, get over it."? I believe that people all have different experiences, and what may seem to be a trivial or easily surmountable obstacle for one person, might be something that's really painful and difficult for another. And how much do you know before you judge?

I knew a girl that tried to commit suicide when she started taking advanced classes and started getting B and B+ grades. Many people judged her immediately and thought it was an immature and horribly selfish thing to do. So what? You got a B+; it's no big deal. Drama queen you are to want to end your life because of a few B+ grades here and there. If you had the knowledge that her alcoholic father would beat her severely and demean her emotionally and mentally (threatening to throw her out on the street; telling her she is worthless and he wished every day she wasn't his daughter, etc) if she got anything less than an A, would you have a different opinion? Because that's what happened. It was found out her parents (both of them) were abusive to her when she was anything less than perfect. And this had been going on ever since her childhood. Would you still call her a drama queen upset about nothing now?

It's not a black and white thing. Do you have an example? Sometimes it's justifiable, and sometimes it isn't. If someone was dying, or old and suffering, I think it would be okay. If they were in a horrible spiral of depression, and their life was a complete wreck byond repair, it might be justifiable. People don't commit suicide for no reason, that's what you have to remember. There's obviously something very wrong if they would resort to that. The question is whether it can be fixed or not.

I think that if your suicide is unnecessary and you will hurt remaining humans then it is wrong. If you are in extreme pain than it is justifiable.

I would not commit suicide because I couldn't bear putting that burden on my loved ones and also because I am a very curious person and I'm afraid I'd miss something amazing.

It's my life, if I want to end it I have that right. In the same vein of thought, it is not my right to keep others alive if they don't wish to be. Suicide is a selfish act, but forcing a miserable person to live is much more selfish.

While it is not a choice I encourage, for obvious reasons, and I am sure the majority of those who feel lost or desperate enough to take their own life have exhausted all other measures of help....I can sympathize with their position, and would never condemn them for it,

I'm opposed to it based solely on the fact that I don't believe in an afterlife - so this short time on earth is all we get.

To kill yourself is a waste.

Especially since most suicides are due to things that aren't nearly as important as they might seem to someone who is stuck in the middle of them.

I'm opposed to it in the sense that I think it's awful that someone could despair so much that they thought suicide was the only way out.

I think suicide is pretty much the most selfish and abhorrent thing a person can do. As an atheist, believing in no afterlife, I take death VERY hard. There is just something about suicide that chills me to the bone. It's awful.

It's a selfish act since the person in question murders someone other people care about. However, they have the right to their life and ending thereof.