Death or Horrible Life

[LSJ]

Which is better? I've thought about this before.
NOT that I am suicidal. I mean from a philosophical standpoint.

Death ends all suffering, but also your life and therefor existence. In our society death is the worst thing possible. In religion it is as well. But is it really worse than living a life of suffering?

Its a hard question, because once you're dead you are dead forever. When you are suffering you can always try to improve your life. Living a horrible life also lengthens your suffering until you die. But living a bad life is better than no life... or is it?

[Tom Paine]

Depends on the level of suffering and furthermore on its curability. If it is a curable suffering, simple; get it cured and live. However I would prefer death to living with horrible and incapacitating suffering on the basis of utility, on the basis of personal mercy, and on the basis that in the long run both come out the same.

[C.M.]

I said "i'm emo and i cut myself", that option actually made me laugh.

[Bokks]

Life is meant to be lived beyond the pain so that we can enjoy life even moreso... hey! That's a wonderfully specific philosophy for this thread!
Pain defines joy, joy defines life. There you go!
And Charred_Monkey, I do know you didn't mean any harm, but I almost lost a friend when she did that. It's all fun and games until someone loses something...

[C.M.]

And Charred_Monkey, I do know you didn't mean any harm, but I almost lost a friend when she did that. It's all fun and games until someone loses something...

That sucks, hope she's better now.Fortunately for me i never had anything similar happen to anyone i know.

[hellheaven1987]

Depends which type of suffer is. If you have some weird disease such as HIV, and you know you would never cure and die in a painful way, I may choose to die when I cannot work for others.

Besides this example, I find no reason why someone should die, even you lost the one you love most - even you do not lose it now, it would still leave some day.

[NaptownKnight]

lol I'm emo and I cut myself while crieing out the words to a AFI song lol. You didnt include another option, "Get my Sung Cho on and go on rampage"

[karrde]

Death ends all suffering, but also your life and therefor existence. In our society death is the worst thing possible. In religion it is as well. But is it really worse than living a life of suffering?

Well death isn't considered the worst thing possible in my religion. In fact, I am quite looking forward to when I go.

But I am content to live out life for as long as is planned for me to be the best of my ability.

[Pelican Man]

Anybody know Metallica? have you ever seen the video ONE??? Take a second and imagine being in his body. how would you feel? no one would know cause you couldn't let anybody know. would you want to be him? I think the answer is plain and simple. Time and being alone can kill a person. No pain can measure up to that. No suffering can measure up to that. Death cannot even measure up to that.

Let me know what you think.

THE P-MAN

[LSJ]

I added the poll as a joke - there really was no point of having a poll because it wouldn't be detailed enough to understand the person's viewpoint.

[Mathias]

If I knew my life was going to be horrible forever, then I would rather be dead, but we humans have a tendency to feel hope, no matter how silly it may be at times.

[MET]

life or death. they are both just as mysterious. we know they exist, but it stops there. there might be life after death. but on the other hand, it might be just as bad, or even worse then your first live. or better of course.
it really doesn't matter what choice you make. cause you won't know what would have happened if you choose different. you might upset family and friends by killing yourself. but hey, you won't be around to be bothered with it.
it's not that i'm claiming that you should kill yourself. actually, i think the best option might be life, cause you at least "know" you might have a chance of getting a better life.

[Zephrelial]

Let's not forget that all the people who have lived before us has this:

William R.Rellinger:
born.. ....
grew up.......
Did this did that ....
you will see this at the end:

(1910-1997) the year in black explains everything.We will all have those numbers.So death is inevitable.So logically if things get too ugly there is no point in sticking around.

[LoZz]

better to not live, then live in pain.

however this only applies if the pain is unescapeable, like a terminal illness. if your wifes just left you, or a family member has died, the pain is tempoary and theirfor no reason to kill yourself

[Feliks]

Horrible life, unless it was guaranteed that there is an afterlife. It is my opinion that existing is a pleasure itself.

[boofhead]

Yeah you must live your lot in life no matter what. It is most likely the only time you will spend here, so make the most of it.

I have seen pics of a guy with no face from a motorcycle accident, just bloody mush, no eyeballs or anything, and a tube down the hole that used to be his mouth. He obviously did a face slide for a hundred metres down a gravel road.

In this case medical personnel should just refuse to treat someone (and possibly accidentally shoot him in the cranium). Let others do it. We are humane enough to shoot horses with broken legs....why not humans with half-heads? Why prolong their agony?

[Town Watch]

Yeah you must live your lot in life no matter what. It is most likely the only time you will spend here, so make the most of it.

I have seen pics of a guy with no face from a motorcycle accident, just bloody mush, no eyeballs or anything, and a tube down the hole that used to be his mouth. He obviously did a face slide for a hundred metres down a gravel road.

In this case medical personnel should just refuse to treat someone (and possibly accidentally shoot him in the cranium). Let others do it. We are humane enough to shoot horses with broken legs....why not humans with half-heads? Why prolong their agony?

umm helmets for the win? Why the **** don't people use ****ing helmets any more? Just wondering...

[Saiah]

Well, I feel that just giving up and killing yourself is just plain stupid. It's like playig a game and you lost ONE match and then you quit playing forever. I mean that's just stupid. What I would do is practice some more to succeed. In life, it's like just finding ways to solve some of the challenges you're facing like school, social life, marriage, friends, family, etc. Yes, life is horrible, but there is always a way to make it better. Look at America in the past, they have a choice to either surrender liberty(death) or fight for it(horrible life). They fought for it, and now we have a country that is worth recognizing as awesome because they chose to try and solve their problem.

[leeho730]

"lets jump off a very high cliff"

As long as death is painless.

I fell off from the first floor once, my head downward.

Didn't feel a thing, just lost consciousness.

[Elohim]

I chose the "whatever doesn't kill you..." option despite disproving it to a schoolteacher at the age of six, the first time I broke my arm.
This is because I am a Muslim converted from Catholicism. Both in my childish and grown-up religious states, suicide just ain't where it's at.
However, that's not to say I'm a life-support/dialysis fan. Absolutely not. In my humble opinion, putting the plug in is playing God, not taking it out.
Um, yeah. That's my two penn'orth (soon to be worth 0.01p thanks to inflation & the Bank of England)

Advice to anyone who chose the emo option - cut down the wrist instead of across. You've got a much higher chance of actually killing yourself instead of looking like a @~$#-wit. Speaking as someone who has had a friend commit suicide awfully efficiently (as though that gives my opinion any more legitimacy than anyone else's).