But yes, of course it is terrible to affect everyone around you selfishly by committing suicide.
I don't know how selfish that is in reality. These people are surrounded by a darkness we can't see through, ESPECIALLY if we don't know to look for it. We're also surrounded by distractions ourselves.
An extreme case is someone I served with in the military. We both went into the same branch and served on the same ship. Great person all around. And then he went into special forces. A world where you do and see dark things in the name of your country.
It changed him and not in a good way. Late one holiday evening, his wife awoke to the sound of a loud thump. She called out to him because she got scared and he wasn't in his bed. When she got up to investigate, she found him on the floor in a pool of blood. This guy was going to die, but because of her quick actions, he survived...with complications.
I used to think suicide was for the selfish and weak. Instead, it's more likely caused by the selfish and weak. No one, and I mean no one, can take life's punishment without some consequence. How blind can I be when I can't see distress like that? I know he displayed the signs. No one listened.
Very intense your story, friend! Can you tell how this friend's life went on after this situation? At what level of consciousness does he remain? What's the matter with him on this subject today?
I completely agree with you about being very average that we just treat it as a selfish act, because the pain these people go through to need to take their own life is indescribable, and I respect this lack of direction, I don't judge it as a stupid act solely, even for that I know my friend for example tried several measures, several changes. The problem is that nothing worked, nothing he tried, and above all it's because he didn't "try" with the desire for life, even when happy, he always said he wasn't happy being alive and that deep down he was born to to die. How could I intervene in a situation like this where desire is so ingrained in the person? I come to think that dying is a right of people, but the consequences of these acts are the big problem. The family is there now, taking care of him in a deplorable state, without progress, vegetating and convulsing. Is he aware that he hasn't made it through "to the other side"? And what do you think about overcoming all physical expectations and continuing to exist, even against your will? Would he return to health completely, would he change his outlook on life or would he just be sad for not having been able to end his journey?
He had some brain damage. He had to be retrained, but I don't know the extent of it. I know he has partial use of one of his arms.
I do not know. I'm not an expert outside of the fact that when you see someone in trouble, you decide to intervene or you do not. I didn't speak to him much after I left the military when he went into special forces. I sent him an email a couple of years later and his former wife responded and told me what happened.
At the risk of making myself sound callous, I'll say this: No one knows what tomorrow will bring. My wife and I have life insurance set aside for my family. My wife and I have living wills. She wants the plug pulled if something leaves her in a vegetative state. I want the same. We both want to be cremated. She wants her ashes spread along trees in a park. I want something less formal.
I don't know what your friend or his family feel, but I wish all of you the least pain possible.