Ten reasons why not to commit suicide...

When suicide beckons...

Suicide often presents itself as the best solution only because the simplest help is not at hand. This is a disgrace and governments, as well as citizens, should do more to tackle the problem. Suicide prevention is one of the aims of UN-aligned and we will not stop campaigning for better worldwide services to help people in difficult situations. 

Sima Qian, the Han Dynasty historian who had every reason to commit suicide, but chose to write instead

In extreme circumstances, such as terminal illness and unbearable pain, killing one's self may be a viable option. However, every possible support needs to be available in order to ensure that a lack of services is not the real reason why suicide presents itself as the best solution. Here is a list of International Crisis Lines one can contact for support. You may also email me directly for informal advice, if you prefer (adrian.liberto@gmail.com). 

Below are some reasons why it may not be a good idea: 

1. You may be killing a future self who may not want to be terminated. You are his or her guardian. Fight the moment and pass on the baton of your personal growth.
2. That future self may have an important role to play, even if it is just saving a butterfly from drowning, or someone who will prove to be a great benefactor to humanity... or you, yourself, may become that benefactor.
3. You are a winner. Part of you outraced millions of spermatozoa racing to fertilise the egg. You owe it to all those potential lives to make the most of your own. As the Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa states: "To be born a human being is rarer than a star that shines by day."
4. Whatever it is that life is about, problems are there as challenges that help us learn. Perhaps death will merely postpone those lessons and you may have to meet the same challenges with all the preceding crap until you get there again.
5. Many suicides go wrong; even well planned ones. You may find yourself with the same problems, plus the added inconvenience of being severely disabled or having to deal with some stupid reactions from those closest to you.
6. "This too will pass!" Sometimes we just need to weather the storm, because however frightening the situation may be, it may pass. If not, it is always more worthy to "take arms against" those "slings and arrows" than "oppose" them by ending your own self, which is really not opposing them at all, but taking their side!
7. Sometimes, a chemical imbalance or a trivial matter may cause disproportionate reactions. Important decisions should not be taken at our lowest ebb.
8. The urge to end it all is sometimes a reflection of what lies without, not what lies within you. See it a a nudge to change direction. There usually are many alternatives and we just have to break away from the conditioning that makes us believe that we are bound to the hopelessness of our environment.
9. Bigoted social and religious pressures often force us to be what we are not. This can be hell. Don't take that hell with you. Stick your middle finger up to it instead and don't let bigotry crush you.
10. Your death could have unhappy consequences: sadness, despair, more suicides...

Life is cannot be meaningless when there there is so much to do! Help us fight for a better world.