Originally posted by: DomS
Originally posted by: ed21x
in Asian culture, if you are not achieving to your potential or living up to the standards of society, you are considered a waste of oxygen and should end yourself for the betterment of humanity. It explains the high suicide rate for Japanese businessmen who've failed to provide for their family after getting laid off, Taiwanese students commiting suicide after their end-of-highschool exam are publicly posted, and a ton of other things. Better to kill yourself than be a burden on society. Live to be honorable, and productive.
EXACTLY. That's what I'm saying. People can talk about sucking it up, etc. But if you've BEEN trying, and you're still floundering/failing at life, why not then choose to end your life, given the circumstances that I already laid out in the OP
Ignorance is bliss isn't it?
Speaking as someone who actually held a knife to his own throat a couple of years ago, and once before in 8th grade, I can say with good authority life is the best of the 3 options (the other 2 being death and insanity, came close to the latter a couple of times too).
Granted I was severely depressed in both instances, but I was effectively failing at life. My family's been at war with itself for the last 7 years or so, and every attempt I've made to stop it (with the rare exception) has resulted in failure or worse. I have moderate PTSD from some of said family warfare, my GPA is a 1.7, my social life is shit.
But for the first time in the last 7 years I'm actually improving. I sucked it in, took a semester off, finally saw a psychologist and beat the worst of my depression in the very environment that spawned it. You name any form of purely psychological torture, chances are I've been through a variation; and I'm still intact, damaged, but intact. Working on the damaged bit with results. For the first time in a while my life is on the up and up.
If I hadn't lost my nerve with the knife in both instances, I would have died in painful violence with nothing to show for it. Never mind the negative effect it would have had on my already fucked up family.
Now I'm stronger than ever. I've never had a girlfriend (largely due to said depression), but I know more about relationships than most of the people my age, (due to background behind said violence) and I'm only 21. I also know my limits, what I'm capable of in many respects, what I'm capable of enduring. Likewise my morals and values have been firmly established by experience. I don't wonder about what's right and what's not. That which does not kill you makes you stronger, if you let it.
Even by your description, I'm now in a position to help society more than I ever could before/during my experiences. Don't get me wrong, if I could go back in time and prevent this shit I would, as there are much better ways to get to where I'm at; but if I'd committed suicide years ago, my net effect on society would have been nothing but negative.
Improving/changing oneself is probably the hardest thing anyone ever does. Suicide is by far the easier option. Committing suicide because you're failing at life isn't dying with dignity or "what honor you have left". It's simply a refusal to accept responsibility for your failure. There isn't a person on this planet who is incapable of self-improvement. The "honorable" option is to use that ability and attempt to atone for whatever damage you think you've caused.
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