R.I.P. Robin Williams

PrintSmith wrote:

PrintSmith wrote: He put his own suffering ahead of the suffering of his wife and children and that is simply a choice a husband and a father has lost when he chose to be a husband and a father.

Never said that Williams' choice was cowardly or selfish SC. I said it resulted from not being able to live with his pain. I said his choice is one he lost the moment he decided to be a husband and a father. If you want to disagree with my opinion, that's fine, but please don't alter what my opinion is prior to taking issue with it.

My apologies if I was projecting onto you what I've seen so many others saying PS, but I interpret your sentence above in bold that you are calling him selfish. If that's not how you mean it, then I am mistaken and I'm sorry.

I just don't think it's being understanding of the "choice" people make when committing suicide - as described above in one of the authors I quoted, to the sufferer, it's a choice between the fire and jumping - I don't think we have a right to judge, nor do I believe that it is helpful to those suffering to make that judgement on them. Every year we hear about public shootings, murder-suicides of families, and we hear that it's not guns that are the problem, we lament that mental health care in this country isn't serving those in need and they turn to violence - against others and themselves. Being compassionate and proactively helping is much more effective at solving these issues than passing judgements on others.

PrintSmith wrote: Suicide is the choice made when the person simply can't live with whatever is causing them pain be it physical or emotional. What they fail to realize is that the manner in which they choose to end their pain creates a lifetime of pain for others. That is why suffering brings grace to your life. It means that you have chosen others over self, that you choose to suffer rather than cause suffering.

I am glad that you have embraced the experiences that have shaped you despite your pain, and found the positive in it; it is a preferable course of action to suicide. But I can tell you wholeheartedly that most days I couldn't care less about having "grace" in my life and would gladly trade the experiences I've had and how they've shaped me, even if it would turn me into a more shallow, less caring, less compassionate, less open-minded person because there are some traumas that no human being should EVER have to suffer (and I can say that because I believe that I would still be caring, compassionate, and open-minded, just not as much so). Finding the silver lining of becoming a better person and working through the pain is, I'm sorry, bulls*** in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, it's what we have to do because we as a species still suck with the harm we inflict upon one another, but it doesn't mean we have to like it or applaud it, nor do I think it means that we have a right to judge those who choose another path because some of us worked through it and others choose differently, especially if we as a society aren't going to provide the understanding, compassion, and care they require in order to deal with it. Seeking therapy still has a huge social stigma attached to it - how many of you would be willing to admit you've had some - and until we stop judging, that attitude will continue, and those who need help will continue to be hesitant in seeking it out, in my opinion.