Is committing suicide selfish?

Question

I've heard a lot of people say that committing suicide is a selfish act, because you're passing on the pain to others. However, in my opinion, I don't think so. Actually, I feel like it's the other way around. People expect you to just keep moving on, no matter how shitty life is. They tell you that life would get better, even though it may be getting evidently worse. They say you should keep living for your family and friends. Who cares about how you feel? They'll just medicate you and send you to get hours of therapy, just to convince you to keep living. The only time suicide seems alright is if you have a terminal illness. You didn't have an option to be born, and apparently, people look down on you for wanting to have an option to die.

lightbulb27 · Accepted Answer

Some perspective. My sister was going to commit suicide around 17. She's 55 now.

A relatives daughter tried several times to commit suicide. In both cases, it was because of family turmoil... things they couldn't control that caused pain. Girls especially seem succeptible, but boys get hurt too. In the relatives daughters case... she tried several times when her dad was a mess (a drug addict) and that was really hard on mom. She survived, mom remarried a great guy and is happy, and daughter is really happy, has a boyfriend and is doing fantastic in college. She got past that junk and is contributing to life.

If she had killed herself... she would have trashed her mom... who knows what that would have done to her already wounded brothers and there is no way to recover her life. YES it is selfish.

That said, the pain is real, don't ignore it, the pain is a sign something is wrong. But typically, if there are some good people around you somewhere, that can be solved and you can live a full life. Get counseling, go to church, find good supportive people... get out of the place you are.

P. s. life changes every 10 years. The pain you have today will be a distant memory in 10 years. You'll have different problems when you are 60 and 70, etc.. There's always challenges. But I can say for sure...14-27 are the toughest years I've had.

legs_n_sheets · Accepted Answer

It's selfish af, period. Not saying anyone fully understands others' miseries, or how they perceive them. But at the end of the day everyone without doubt has problems. Bottom line here is that you are taking your own life knowing the people who love you, specially your family, are going to suffer. There's no other worst act of selfishness that that, really. Same goes to people who live killing themselves slowly with alcoholism and drug addictions, etc,.. Those are all impulses born out of lack of empathy/consideration towards your love ones.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I think the main problem with suicide is that nobody hardly ever tries to identify or figure out why the person was driven to kill themselves. What compelled them to that degree to believe that there was absolutely NO hope, No peace, No happiness, NO difference or a way out in their circumstances, No healing, etc. Everything is NO.

Instead, we tell them to get help, which makes them feel like they are crazy or some psycho, or they're super sensitive, or we say that they choose to live in depression when sometimes it's really not that easy. We tell them if they kill themselves they will hurt others. Instead of finding motivation and encouragement to live, they're only living as an obligation for other people, as if it's some chore. We tell them it's about other people and never about them. We don't sit down and hear them out and lend and ear to let them rant about whatever is going on in life. Sometimes when people get it out they feel better.

You have a point, I think in a way it is selfish to just expect the person to continue on living in a misery just so other people can be comfortable. To me there's no point in life if you're just miserable all the time. What life is that? I'm advocating suicide, but I'm just trying to get you to look at it from that angle.

People don't really want to die; they just want the pain to stop.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I think it's pretty selfish. First off, your life itself is a gift. I don't think a lot of people realize how amazing it is to be alive. Through some tiny miracle, you were the sperm who made it to the egg. Think about that. You were the sperm that won! And then you were born. And your parents/guardians spent years raising you, protecting you, and spending tons of time and money keeping you alive. If you kill yourself that means they wasted a large chunk of their lives on you. When people kill them selves, (with the exception of people with terminal illnesses) they're literally throwing away the greatest thing they will ever have, and figuratively spitting into the faces of the people who invested large portions of their lives on you. I get that life is hard, and sometimes it seems like things will only ever get worse, but sometimes things actually do get better out of the blue. Killing yourself solves nothing. All it does is remove you from the equation. You're literally just taking all the weight of the pain off of your shoulders and putting it all on the shoulders of everyone who has ever cared about you.

impossiblestrumpet · Accepted Answer

in my opinion suicides of the young-adult-from-a-first-world-country ilk are pretty selfish. Even if bullies/your family made it so your life is shitty, suicide doesn't account for all the other people who might be affected.

What about your little kid sibling/cousin/niece/nephew/neighbor? How are their parents supposed to explain to them what in the world's happened to you? Is some of their innocence taken away by learning about the reality of suicide, or do they go on knowing a person they looked up to was taken away but not knowing why? What about your pets? Will they just be sad and confused at why you're gone, or will they think you abandoned them? What about that suicidal kid that goes to your school, or even just lives in your town? A good kid you'd never want to die? What if they hear about what happened to you and figure that if you did it, why shouldn't they? Do you want to be responsible for that? I wouldn't.

menina · Answer

No, I don't think so. In fact, I hate when people say that.
A person who commits suicide is a person who is desperate, who is a very dark place. They're feeling so much pain, that life becomes a burden instead of a gift.
No one knows what they're going through. They might tell you they're ok, but they're not.
Sure, the people who love them will suffer, will miss them. But they are the only ones who know what they're feeling.
So it's not right to judge them.

Waffles731 · Answer

No, its not selfish at all, How many of those people who have said yes have major depressive disorder, I'm betting zero

FromAshes · Answer

Yes it's selfish. Think of all the taxes you could pay and all the money you could help a firm make by serving as an ancillary piece of the corporate machine.

Be all you can be and snort whatever drug you can to get by. Just make sure Uncle Sam gets his cut.

Anonymous · Answer

I meant to say no. It's not selfish. The selfish thing to do would be to murder the person that's causing you pain, so you can live free. Killing yourself and erasing your existence from the planet is not selfish. It is an act of choice that people can do. Most of the people that commit suicide didn't have very many people in their life to begin with, so there's no pain to "pass down."

Petr1992 · Answer

I believe the devil plays with peoples mind, when it comes to with this. like the devil have said in the person ear - you are scum/filth/awful/worthless/and many more awful things. and repeat this over and over again for days to years. and the person starts to believe it and loose hope. , - and all it takes, is to kneel and smile at them and give them your hand and help them up. and show them the person they use to be. because in the end, the person who is kind and honest, is their rescue.

BuchitaBuchys · Answer

I don't think so. Many times, we are driven to it simply because we've been selfless all our lives. You know what? I guess it's a little selfish. But we all have that in us, it's just our selfishness is an inconvenience to everyone else.

PT1911 · Answer

Whoever wrote this episode for The Blacklist was on point.

fauchelevent · Answer

No more selfish than forcing someone to stay alive if they don't want to. Most actions performed by people are selfish on some level anyway.

udkme · Answer

yes it is selfish because no matter how shitty your life is and no matter how many people hate you, there will always be at least one person that will be devastated if you commit suicide. and then getting over that is extremely difficult

truthbeknown · Answer

Yes and no. You are right, they pass on immense pain and loss to their loved ones, but at the same time you have to respect what they want from their life, including the right to end it.

ksoma · Answer

This isn't a yes or no question. There are too many variables. In general, I think it is a selfish, and cowardly, act. But certainly not always. So I can't answer yes or no.

Anonymous · Answer

No, what's selfish is forcing someone to stay alive in pain and I hate people who feel they have an obligation to keep people alive against their will. My parents sent me to a mental hospital because they thought I was suicidal and I hate them for it to this day.

Maxemeister · Answer

You live in a place with internet. A place with technology. Meaning probably first world. People who commit suicide in a first world country honestly piss me off so much.

Anonymous · Answer

No it's not selfish. I totally agree with you. They're selfish if they tell you to keep living a life you don't want just so as not to hurt them.
The option to kill yourself is what makes life something you've chosen, instead of something forced on you that you can't get out of. That's why I believe suicide is the most important human right

Anonymous · Answer

There are different reasons for suicide, terminal illness, chronic depression disorders, and "I'm sad cuz nothin goes my way." There are arguments to made on both sides whether or not it's selfish, except maybe the last one. In any case, most suicides are cowardly before they are selfish. And yes, I've attempted before

Bandit74 · Answer

Maybe but so is guilt tripping someone into living a miserable life just because you'd be sad if they were gone.

TripleAce · Answer

Yes it can be. Because the person you are in this world has touched and effected many people's lives

akadatank44 · Answer

The act itself is selfish yes but people are not in their right minds and the selfishness of others drove them to that point.

Nuala · Answer

Yes it is selfish, it is one of the worst thing you can do in this life.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes and if you commit suicide, you'll wake up in hell.

Is committing suicide selfish?

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