Do you think suicide has only one victim? If i could get FYM to think just a little about what happens AFTER a suicide you might understand some of my sentiments.
Just a warning before anyone continues reading, it may be upsetting/triggering if similar to any personal situation.
I used to work for a voluntary organisation in the UK called The Samaritans, its basically a hotline for those dealing with any kind of personal crisis and needing someone to talk to, and most often this was suicide.
We would often receive phone calls at 2 in the morning, with someone having taken an overdose or bleeding out. They often just wanted to talk to someone in their final moments, just someone to be with them. I can tell you that it is an 'experience' being on the end of a phone line as the person goes silent on the other end. But that would be selfish, because those calls aren't about me, but having compassion and empathy for another human being.
Samaritan policy was we would never tell anyone not to commit suicide, we recognised their free will to make their own choices regarding their life. Our phones wouldn't give us their numbers, emergency services could only be called if we the caller wanted us to, though we would encourage the caller if still able to call them themselves as we occasionally got given fake addresses.
The people who called while suicidal, were not selfish people, their reasoning at the time, though flawed by all sorts of factors was often they were doing what they considered for the best even for those around them, that people would be better off without them. Yes we did encourage people to think of what happens 'after' they pass, such as who do they think will find them, do they have arrangements made, who would attend their funeral, the consequences were important to think about. This did dissuade some people which was great, but being their for people just to talk to and have someone listen was great enough in itself.
For you to suggest none of us have thought this entirely through is patronising in the extreme, you can shove it.
I really never get the Christian moralising on suicide (which I am assuming this is where your stance is driven from, suicide= mortal sin etc), since what you consider the most selfless act ever (Jesus dying for our sins) is basically suicide by cop. But hey martyrdom is all noble and crap.
It was but the organisation itself is incredibly well set-up, they've been going 60 years, and they train you for a couple of months before they even let you near a phone call. Some of their trainers (veteran volunteers) are some of the damn best actors I've seen in role play.
