Suicide

A kid died last weekend in an auto accident here in town. It wasn't his fault but the fault of the weather (heavy rain). So, what does his girlfriend do on Wednesday? She shoots herself.... dead. Barely even 15, too.

Why do I bring this up? I dunno. It irritates me that things like this happen and this isn't the first of it's kind either. But the girl now leaves behind a grieving family. One that has a mother enduring chemo treatments for cancer. Now this. It was a selfish move that she made. I say that because these two probably wouldn't have even been an item (dating) in 3 years time had both still lived.

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Teenagers are emotionally imbalanced and therefore not as rational about such things as adults.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Teenagers are emotionally imbalanced and therefore not as rational about such things as adults.

Yeah, this is true.

999/1000 I'm sympathetic to people who feel suicidal and I'm pro-euthenasia for terminal patients but this just seems senseless. Was this girl offered therapy? Was she receiving any?

There may have been other factors at play with her too. You said her mother was receiving chemo for cancer. Losing her boyfriend and watching her mother (potentially) die slowly may have been too much for her.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:999/1000 I'm sympathetic to people who feel suicidal and I'm pro-euthenasia for terminal patients but this just seems senseless. Was this girl offered therapy? Was she receiving any?

There may have been other factors at play with her too. You said her mother was receiving chemo for cancer. Losing her boyfriend and watching her mother (potentially) die slowly may have been too much for her.

I'm not sure about the background of this at the time. But I'm sure dealing with her mothers cancer was having an effect.

I've been thru quite a bit in my own lifetime and have never considered suicide. I personally believe it's an "easy" way out. Or weak. It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

As for terminally ill people, that's another story. I agree that those people should have the option of terminating their life.

I understand your frustrations. All of us go through difficulty at times and few attempt suicide. I hope I never get so low that I feel I have nothing left to live for. The only instance where I might contemplate it is if I am dying slowly with no chance of recovery and I have only a slow painful death ahead of me. Nope, give me a morphine overdose straight away thanks.

I would also make an exception for people with (genuine) depression. They don't think the same way everybody else does.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:I understand your frustrations. All of us go through difficulty at times and few attempt suicide. I hope I never get so low that I feel I have nothing left to live for. The only instance where I might contemplate it is if I am dying slowly with no chance of recovery and I have only a slow painful death ahead of me. Nope, give me a morphine overdose straight away thanks.

I would also make an exception for people with (genuine) depression. They don't think the same way everybody else does.

I believe those with severe depression have the option to seek help. Those with a terminal disease don't. They see death coming as it is.

I agree with Tex. Suicide is one of the most selfish things a human being can do.

I've never entirely agreed with this 'selfish' thing. People don't kill themselves lightly. It's kind of illogical that ending your own life could be selfish. Nor do I think many people would kill themselves just to spite another person. I realize that it is selfish in the sense that by dying you compound and create problems for the people you leave behind. But by the time you commit to kill yourself I imagine you're so mentally destroyed that you probably don't think about those issues. And at 15 you're even less likely to. To call it a 'loser's way out' or whatever isn't helpful. Better to educate young people about how their life is important to those around them in ways they may not have realized, than to call all suicidal people selfish and probably exacerbate their misery.

Of course, it's different in situations like murder-suicide, or where someone does not wish to face justice for a terrible crime they have committed.

A friend of mine who works for the police has attended a couple of suicidal people. He says it's usually easy to tell the genuinely suicidal ones from the ones who 'attempt' suicide as a cry for help. The former tend to just get it done with. They throw themselves in front of a train, shoot themselves, jump off Beachy Head in the dead of night. If there's enough time for police to be called and arrive on scene, it's usually a person in two minds or looking for some kind of help/attention.

I stand by my remarks. This young girl left behind 2 sisters, a brother, a father and a mother who is fighting cancer.

Again, though her boyfriends death was tragic, who's to say they would still be together in a years time. At that age, kids go thru relationships like I do toilet paper.

To me, it was a waste of a life. I guess I come off cold-hearted when not discussing the mind issues she had. I'm on the outside looking in. The girl had so much potential with what she could've or might've done in her life. Now we'll never know. That, to me, is a waste.... and sad.

TexasBlue wrote:A kid died last weekend in an auto accident here in town. It wasn't his fault but the fault of the weather (heavy rain). So, what does his girlfriend do on Wednesday? She shoots herself.... dead. Barely even 15, too.

Why do I bring this up? I dunno. It irritates me that things like this happen and this isn't the first of it's kind either. But the girl now leaves behind a grieving family. One that has a mother enduring chemo treatments for cancer. Now this. It was a selfish move that she made. I say that because these two probably wouldn't have even been an item (dating) in 3 years time had both still lived.

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Its' youth. Look at all the passionate and dramatic shows FOX has on for teens that depict the same reaction if a lover dies. Kids see it on TV and they imitate it. Remember when video games and rap music was blamed for violence?

http://www.ctnow.com/videobeta/b43a919d-780c-48d9-a5a7-80a6d06710d9/News/Fox-CT-Sexy-Teen-Culture-6-10