This just popped into my head as a result of hearing about the spike in suicides correlating with the ravages of Covid-19 in America.

People commit suicide to make the pain stop. Physical pain, emotional pain. Any kind of pain you can think of. When you kill yourself the pain stops, so one might argue that suicide is a rational impulse under certain circumstances (let’s disregard the pain that is inflicted upon those left behind for now, just to make this discussion easier, but I’m not unaware of it).

So the pain stops, mission accomplished, right? Well, no. Because you will no longer be around to enjoy any relief. There is no relief. You have merely returned to the state you were in before you were conceived; that of non-existence, and for millennia the world progressed just fine without you (debatable, I know).

I fully understand that there are conditions one can encounter in life that appear intolerable and that ending your life seems like a perfectly rational decision. Just take a moment to consider those left behind.

If at the end of the day you come out in favor of ending it all, I shall not judge you. Suicide can be an act of cowardice and also a noble act. It may even offer comfort in that your existence in the grand scheme of things plays an infinitesimally insignificant role in the daily business of the Universe. You will be forgotten in the blink of an eye after your last synapse has fired.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255