Is suicide an act of courage or cowardace? Give me your opinions.?

Question:Good question. Lots of good answers.

When it comes to war, I think we should acknowledge it as sacrifice rather than suicide. For another to sacrifice himself/herself for another is the best of love and courage.
However, since I have had suicides in my family I tend to think on suicide as the ultimate selfishness. The survivors are devastated for years so the selfishness involved with self-murder is hard to excuse. If a person truly wanted help they could find it. And people have lived through the absolute WORST situations with out committing suicide. LIVING TAKES COURAGE!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Good question. Lots of good answers.

When it comes to war, I think we should acknowledge it as sacrifice rather than suicide. For another to sacrifice himself/herself for another is the best of love and courage.
However, since I have had suicides in my family I tend to think on suicide as the ultimate selfishness. The survivors are devastated for years so the selfishness involved with self-murder is hard to excuse. If a person truly wanted help they could find it. And people have lived through the absolute WORST situations with out committing suicide. LIVING TAKES COURAGE!

I think it's a cowardly way out....and it is so hopeless...I cannot imagine being to the point in my life where I truely believe that there is no hope for me....no one that cares...nothing...
It takes courage to go on during a time like this and yes, it can be very trying and very hard...but to just throw in the towel and give up on everyone that loves you and give up on yourself....to me...that is just lazy and cowardly....

a little of both.. personally i think think cowardace becasue your just permanently running away from your problems.. but i guess depending on the situation it could be courage too

If you are living this "bad" life that they say they have, it takes courage living that life, and to stop this bad life it takes cowardice.

cowardace n courage in a way but its not worth doing it. really.

Cowardly!!! People are overwhelmed with problems they don't know how or don't want to solve. If they were to reach out I'm sure someone would listen.

neither, it just is. Some culture revere it as the proper way out, some abhor it, it's all subjective

I don't think anyone can give an answer to that unless you have ever been in the situation where taking your life is real reality or being the one left behind.

I think that it is a shame that there is not more help or understanding of mental health, for the people suffering and the people who are around it.

Depends. Some military institutions instructed their operatives to commit suicide. Japanese fighter pilots in WW2 were effective because of their suicidal actions. Also, many country's spys kill themselves when caught, to prevent the leaking of secrets during torture.
So in those situations I would think it to be slightly different than people who just kill themselves cuz things are not going well.
I think in these situations, suicide is immature. Grow up and deal with your problems. There are people who've overcome many worse things than whatever people wind up killing themselves for.
And failed suicides are the worst. How can you screw it up? That is just a total cry for attention.

cowardess because its not facing wanting to face ones own problems and they want the easy why out, but to them it feels different,

Ask somebody who is contemplating it

Suicide is what a person does when they have lost hope. They are overwhelmed by their circumstances.
A person can also have a chemical imbalance which causes them to think about it on a daily basis. Every day they have to convince their self to live. There are meds which really help in this case. They can return to normal if they take them.
I would never call an attempted suicide a coward. They are obviously so upset they tried to die. They would need a lot of love and some serious counselling and possibly meds.
Some people are asking for help when they try to commit suicide, or even attention. But it's the kind of help that most of us can't give. It's deeper than that. And as I said earlier, likely a need for counselling.
If death is the answer we need to make sure of the question. We usually have a choice of action or attitude. Sometimes when we are upset we can't see what the action or attitude might be which would turn the situation around.

When we feel cornered by life, when we have lost hope, it is a natural conclusion for many to die.

If someone you know has said they are considering it, it should be taken seriously. They are asking for help.

If someone threatens you, "I'll kill myself if you don't love me back" or whatever, there isn't much you can do. If they do it, do not blame yourself. If you could have waved a magic wand you would have put that person right into counselling.

Usually things are not as bad as we imagined them to be. Our imaginations can conjur the most horrendous things to frighten ourselves.

It is healthy to desire to live. But under some circumstances a person has "been given" more than they can tolerate.

I knew of a girl who told her parents she was pregnant. Her father threw her out of the house. He "disowned" her. She rode her bike to a girlfriend's but she couldn't or wouldn't take her in. So the girl went to the train tracks, set her bike on it's stand, took our her I.D. and placed it beside her bike. Then she lay down on the tracks and waited for the train to come. It came alright, and killed her. I'd call that an act of courage not cowardice. The poor girl.

Suicide hurts so many people that I think it is usually an act of cowardice.

A person who commits suicide does it either for their own sake - as in they just can't take life anymore, or they do it for the sake of their family and people who are around them, because they can see the pain they are inflicting and think their family would be better off without them.

I don't believe in religion, and I don't believe in fate, karma or destiny, but I do believe that we are lucky to have the lives that we do have, and that we should make the most of them, for our own sakes and for everyone else's sakes. Therefore I think that in most cases suicide is the cowards way out, because they are so privileged to have a life and should try their hardest to use it and enjoy it.

This is such a delicate topic though, that I feel like I can never say it as an absolute. Though I can't think of an example now, I'm confident that there must be cases in which it is not cowardice. However, I think the whole concept is horrible and I wish no one had to ever consider it as the courageous option. Or at all, for that matter.

This is something that I have thought about a lot, but I really don't think I have a defined opinion at all. These are just my thoughts.

It has more to do with being asleep than courage or cowardice.

REVENGE, stupidity, and cowardice.

All will learn that there are TWO persons you can never run away from: GOD and yourSelf !!

[ "...away from." ? My ending a sentence with a preposition is something UP with which I will not PUT ! Ha ha ]

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I believe suicide is neither an act of cowardice nor courage. I believe suicide is a result of mental illness. Humans as well as all animals have a very strong will to live. Consider the unconscious response of fight or flight. If we see no possibility of winning we have a natural instinct to flee. We all have an instinct to live. That is to insure the survival of the specie. We mature and reproduce to further the specie. All animals have the instinct to survive and reproduce their specie. Suicide is an act that is unnatural and far from the conscious decided action of a mentally healthy person. Explain the Lemming ? They believe that they can fly. All rodents aren't really very bright.

In my opinion it is your state of perception of the world at that particular time in your life. In my opinion, it is no more damning to kill your self quickly than it is to kill your self slowly. I believe God will love and accept you either way.
For INSTANCE:
Say that you smoke a pack of cigarettes from the time you are 15 til the time you are 65 and those cigarettes are the DIRECT cause to you having a Massive Heart Attack, in which you live...and the Dr. says, "Ok, Mr. Smith, I got your arteries unblocked and you are going to live...just quit smoking. Well, Mr. Smith KNOWS smoking will KILL him, but he Chooses to continue to do it. IT IS KILLING HIM SLOWLY, is that not a form of suicide...HE KNOWS?
NOW...Take Mr. Doe, his wife is cheating on him, he just lost his high paying job after buying a great big house, he is isolated from his everyday normal activities, social life, friends, he becomes depressed, his ego is shot, no hope, he is completely sad...His wife kicks him out and moves in a boyfriend...Boyfriend drives his car, plays with daughters, works in his shop, Mr. Doe...NO HOPE...Quickly sees no options and hangs himself. What is the difference. just a faster method. Does God not love him anymore than Mr. Smith? I think NOT.

Its the ultimate act of cowardace. Your running away from problems that you let drive you to ending your life. In rare instances it can be the ultimate act of courage. Especially during war. So i guess both and neither. Good question!!!!

Minha amiga n?o vou responder porque n?o falo Inglês.

Precisaria ter muita coragem para cometer um ato de suicídio. Desculpe responder em português.
Beijos!

Dra Carla...
What?
The book is on the table?!?!

Kisses