Another great video which covers the same subject matter but in this instance the suicides take place at the base of Mount Fuji:
I don't know why I find the topic of suicide so fascinating. I would never do it, but I have been at that place in my life where I wanted to, several times. It is interesting to me to wonder exactly what the transition is between people who want to and people who do. What is the thought path that cements the will to end one's own life? What are each person's reasons for doing it, aside from not wanting to live? What was that final straw that pushed them past wanting to, and in to doing. Is it mental illness or do some people have a legitimate reason to end their own lives? I think the idea is totally false that everyone who is suicidal is mentally ill. Why is suicide usually viewed as the product of an illogical thought process? Why are the people who do it viewed as mentally disturbed? I know that some of them are. But sometimes I think that people just get tired of living. Perhaps tired of pain, or even tired of a monotonous life. Just because someone doesn't want to continue the struggle of trying to make their lives work, doesn't mean they're crazy or disturbed. They're just tired of it all, so very tired.
Some people say that suicide is "the coward's way out" and things like that. But is this true? Wouldn't everyone agree that inflicting pain and eventually death on onesself takes more courage than just about anything else in the world?
Another question I have is why do we all have a knee-jerk reaction when we hear that someone is suicidal? Why do we all think and say "No, dont!" without first contemplating the most important question: why do you feel this way? And then maybe thinking "what if they have a good reason?" Is there a good reason for killing onesself? What do you think? If people are the masters of their own lives, why shouldn't they be allowed to do what they want with it? Is our view of it simply us being scared of thinking about our own mortality? Is it our own fear of death speaking?
What about assisted suicide, perhaps to a terminal cancer patient, etc. Is that murder? If so, why? Isn't murder killing someone who does not want to die? If someone does want to die, then why would helping them be murder?
Please leave comments, I am anxious to hear what other people think about this topic.
