Name: Oneil McQuick
Date: July 31, 2004
Subject Asked: Is committing suicide a cowardly or brave act? Explain.
Does the situation or method of suicide matter?
How Done: In class writing, journal.
School: BCC, ENC 1101
It’s neither brave or cowardly, it’s often a reflexive action to a situation that forces a person to act or plunge in this situation. They neither exert cowardly behavior or bravery, but response to adverse stimuli. In other words, suicide is the result of something surpassing “cowardry” or bravery: Rational thinking is lost, which is needed to make a brave or coward act. The method of suicide doesn’t matter, whether by self or assisted – what matters is that termination of life was attempted. And to prove that it is not a rational act of warranting bravery or ‘cowardry,’ very rarely you hear someone attempted suicide a second time, if they fail the first time. I saw an old Seinfeld re-run and he was joking about the situation, why someone didn’t attempt suicide a second time, they failed the first time why not try again and again until they succeed: Because though sometimes planned, it is simply demonic irrational behavior – upon attempting it rationality most often kicks back in.
The situation of suicide is very important, because it means persons who have attempted it were pushed to do so by adverse circumstances. It therefore means there are some adverse circumstances or societal problems that needs to be addressed. Such problems must also be dealt with quickly and effectively: Because there should be no societal problem that would push a person beyond rationality. The only other problem that most often can cause this is spiritual problems, which society cannot account for and thus really cannot deal with. Of such, we are left only to look to God.
AFTER THOUGH
I didn’t write this in the in-class writing, nor the Seinfeld sentence. However, someone who has suicidal thoughts hasn’t reached that level of lost rationality as yet; he is often being plagued by demons to attempt it. The mere fact he didn’t, God showed favor to be strong. But the thoughts are a sign that satan wants you dead real quick. You could be a great force of good to be reckoned with and hence plagued to terminate that good – most often because he cannot, like Job. I’m Oneil McQuick and that’s an after thought.