Suicidal friend

[DanaC]

I've never understood the idea of suicide being a 'cowardly' act. There've been times I've really wanted to, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to push the blade into my wrist, or step off a bridge. Fear of pain. Fear of changing my mind once beyond the point of no return. These things stopped me far more efficiently than thoughts of loved ones. Therefore in my case, cowardice was what stopped me from committing suicide.

Suicide can be the psychological equivalent of lying down in the snow because you're too exhausted to make the next step. That's not cowardice, that's defeat. Or it can be borne of the conviction that the very people who will be most hurt by your death would be better off without you. That's not cowardice, it's delusion. Or it is not even really about death at all, but an overwhelming desire to hit the stop button; when really all that's needed is a pause. Or they're caught in a moment and can't see a way through it. That's not cowardice, it's simple human frailty. Sometimes our minds take us to dark places. How we navigate through those places is affected by a whole host of factors, including basic brain chemistry.