donalson wrote:
and yet another place my lack of compassion separates me from most peoples thoughts (or I'll just say what others thing but refuse to say openly...)
I put them right up there with drug addicts... it takes a selfish person for either... don't care what it'll do to others... just about themselves... it's sad to see what it does to family and friends... as has been shown in this thread...
*flamesuit on*
I was all ready to pick up a flame thrower too, until I kind of a agree with you.
First the disagreement, that person who is suicidal is mentally ill as others have said. Their coping capacity is overloaded, they are not thinking of only themselves, they just want their pain to stop. They may have even convinced themselves how the world will be a better place with out them in it. That is part of the illness, their view is skewed to everything.
Second I will agree with the drug addiction comparison. In fact its no wonder the two often go hand in hand, but unlike a drug abuser someone with depression had no choice in the matter. There we no needle, bottle, or dealer they had to turn to to get it, it was thrust upon them. But once you have either one, realize it and get past whatever low point caused them to get there and come out of it, it is a lifetime battle to ward against it. You can't just shake it off like its a bad cold and be done with it.
So it is less a selfishness, than it a person that has lost their bearing so badly they feel they are lost forever. As the OP said, reach out to that person if you care for them. Don't do the usual response and ignore the situation and hope it gets better, or just goes away.