The front man of some no name band played at a festival in Belgium a couple of days ago, and less than an hour later, he climbed a security tower and jumped head first into the car park.
Why would you kill yourself after just playing a set at a foreign festival? Surely everything is going your way?
First of all, people don't kill themselves just because things aren't going their way. It's usually because they believe their situation is so bad and so helpless, that they must find a permanent solution to it. Suicide isn't usually some impulsive decision either. It's not like you wake up one morning and think, 'holy shit my life is bad, i'm gonna kill myself.' It's a long depression-ridden road, and i'm sure the front man of that no name band thought his situation was dire for a while, and playing a set at a festival wasn't going to change that.
Why do ********s go and jump off train bridges to kill themselves and fuck up several hundred people's day in one selfish act? It's not like you can hang around to see how pissed off everyone will be. And there's no such thing as 'i'll die knowing....' because 'knowing' ceases at the moment of death, so honestly, what is the point in that?
First of all, i gotta say, i find this to be very insensitive. Over one million people commit suicide every year, to call them ********s and say they're comitting a selfish act...it just seems insensitive. These are people who are obviously desperate, most likely severely depressed, and at the end of the day you don't know the situation that lead them to suicide. Anyway, are you asking whats the point of killing yourself when you don't get to see people's reactions? Seriously? If people decide to kill themselves, they don't care about how people view them or if they're going to create a fuss. Sometimes attempted suicide is a desperate plea for a attention, but when someone does some so definitive as jumping off a train bridge, they obviously don't care about knowing what others think. They just want all their problems to go away, forever.
My instant reaction to 'why do people kill themselves,' is that they feel in need of a truly desperate act that will immediately end their suffering, usually not taking into any account the number of people who've had it a billion times worse than them and who still wouldn't dare commit suicide.
That'll seem really harsh, especially after Captain Jive's post above me, but does anyone's emotional misery truly compare to the literal 'living hell' that life must be for the lucky few who actually reach adulthood in the poorest parts of places like Africa, where you're born into constant hunger, dirt, disease and labor, with literally none of the comforts that the majority of the world take for granted every single day?
I believe that pain and misery are relative. People who are (unfortunately) born into a world where they are forced endure the worst of conditions, eventually become accustomed to their surroundings. Meanwhile, a person who has not been subject to much emotional/physical distraught reacts more dramatically when they suddenly have to endure similar conditions. For example, say there was a man who lived in a little town where everything was always perfect and he was suddenly forced to move to a really rough town. He would be alot more affected by his surroundings than somebody who had grown up in the rough town, right? I'm not saying he has it worse off that those living there, but he would inevitably feel worse off than them.
Is the end of your misery worth inflicting a different yet equally intense misery on everyone who cherishes you?
When someone decides to end their life, a huge factor in it is usually because they feel alone. Those who commit suicide don't think 'i have so many people who love me, but i hate my life so i'm going to end it anyway.' No, that's not how it goes. They feel like there is nothing or no one who can improve their situation. They believe that they have nothing and they have no one. Even if it's not true, that's the mentality of someone who is suicidal.
The night is always darkest before the dawn...... yeah, typically i use a Batman quotation to make a point, but it's still valid.
This may be true, but someone who is suicidal obviously doesn't think this. Surely at some stage in your life you have thought things/your situation wasn't going to get better. If it did or didn't is irrelevent, but that feeling multiplied by a hundred is how someone feels prior to taking their life
As for murder, another truly selfish impulse drives that action and all that keeps it from happening is the individuals ability to control that animalistic urge combined with their regard for human life. Sadly too many of us lack one of those two elements completely.
While for the most part i agree that murder is a wrong and selfish act, i believe it is sometimes justified. I believe certain things can happen to lead someone to a state of mind where they no longer in control of their actions. There are so many possible scenarios that could push a normal human being to kill somebody, i'd name some but they're usually more effective if they apply to your personal situation.