Is it better to live, no matter what the quality of your life, or better to die if its too desperate, why?

Question

We have all seen situations in which a human being is struggling to live with some level of decency, whether the need is financial, psychological, physical or of any other character. And there are lives which when we look at , we shudder to think of our own selves in those situations, simply because they are so difficult. In this context, is it better to choose to die if you cannot help it or feel so, or to keep on going, and keep struggling. There are people in depressing situations. The contexts are sometimes politically created as in war, sometimes due to famine, poverty and dislocation, sometimes due to violence, sometimes due to chronic mental illness, and sometimes due to fatal physical illnesses or conditions such as coma. And sometimes waiting or hanging on has costs other than those to yourself, such as costs to those or all that which is supporting you in your quest to succeed. What should a person caught in such a loop do?

Answer 1

Professor Steven Hawking - British theoretical physicist.
The Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He is known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity. Author of bestseller A Brief History of Time. Contributions include theorems regarding singularities in radiation, known today as Hawking radiation. His scientific career spans more than 40 years.
Professor Hawkings is also severly disabled by amotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS) known as Lou Gerhig's Disease. He doesn't have the use of his arms or legs, and voice, he is completely paralyzed. The computer system attached to his wheelchair is operated by Hawking via an infra-red 'blink switch' clipped onto his glasses.
Countless numbers of people including Professor Hawkings himself would strongly disagree with anyone that he is "struggling to live with some level of decency."
Maybe decency like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the world's greatest composers, lost his hearing rendering him completely deaf. Yet in spite of being deaf Beethoven wrote some of the world's greatest music. He had become angry and so depressed over losing his hearing he thought of killing himself. He learned to cope with his handicap and went on to write some of the world's greatest music. To hear sounds, Beethoven cut the legs of his piano and placed the instrument on the floor. He did this to feel the vibrations in the floor when he played.
You asked "is it better to choose to die...or to keep on going...and keep struggling? Countless numbers of people including Ludwig von Beethoven would argue that it is always better to choose to live..and keep struggling.

Helen Keller at nineteen months old suffered an illness that left her deaf, blind, and mute. Still against all odds, Helen Keller earned a Bacholor's degree at Radcliff. She wrote poetry, toured the Chatauqua lecture circuit, and published an autobiography, The Story of My Life. Helen became a member of the Socialist Party. She also supported controversial groups like Industrial Workers of the World, the American Civil Liberties Union, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Margaret Sanger's birth control crusades. In the 1920's the new American Foundation for the Blind asked Helen Keller to help them raise funds. She was living testimony to the capabilities of a group once assumed to be retarded and helpless, and she spent most of the rest of her life as the most prominent advocate for the needs and rights of the handicapped.
You said "there are people in depressing situation" That's true! And these are some of the greatest heros and inspirations to mankind.
It makes one stop and question, 'who are the real handicapped people in this world?'

And for those who are terminally ill; they too are teaching the rest of us valuable lessons
up until the day they draw their last breath. If nothing else; how valuable each human life really is.

Answer 2

Too many scenarios. People caught in war, dislocation, etc have a chance of things changing - or being able to withstand and get some place other than where they are.
Parents struggle to live to take care of their children - children struggle to live to take care of their parents.
People in a coma have no say about whether to live or die.
They rely upon their caretakers to do what is best for them.
I believe most people would choose to live - but in the case of severe illness it becomes a question they must answer as to their quality of life and some times they refuse treatment when they know it is never going to get better. Some times people wake up from a coma...lost people are found...situations change...or you change your situation. We are upon the earth and most people believe you should live your life and wait to die until God decides.

Answer 3

Your complement, " no matter what the quality of your life[...]"

This is the operative of your inquiry here.

This can be answered most aptly by means of having dimension, having experience and greater exposure, and would be better approached by means of a visit to, say, a intensive care unit in a hospital.

Go, then return and see if your line of inquiry evidences greater clarity, for such a question as yours is too much in the head. Yours is a question for the Heart to answer, only the Heart, not the Mind.

Answer 4

The world as a whole cares not if one being exists or chooses not to exist. It is inconsequential either way in the long run.

Your existence should be more than a quest for success or power - if that is all that it is you've lost already. An individual that is pleased to wake up in the morning should thrive - no matter the circumstance. A person caught in the "loop" as you call it should follow their own heart.

Just because I wouldn't want to be in someone's shoes doesn't mean they aren't thrilled to have them.

Answer 5

I believe Doctor Kevorkian has the right idea...
We should be allowed to end our life or anothers life in our family if those lives are not worth living any longer...

My mother is in a nursing home, age 81, has Alzheimer's, doesn't remember things, is incontinent, throws up every day, wets her bed and her clothes, cannot walk, is bedridden, and smells bad all the time...

She has a hard time hearing, has only partial sight, cannot control her bowels, and is ready to die to go be with her family that passed on before her...

It is expensive to keep her in the nursing facility and keep her bathed and fed and on her medications and clothed...
I have her there because I am disabled and cannot care for her in my home...

But since killing is against the law, she keeps on living in her bedridden state...
I would not want to be like that when I reach her age...
I wish killing was permitted with these types of facts...

Answer 6

Most states in America have laws that leave you no option; You will live, or else. Only a couple of states say it's your life, cookie; you decide. Like the gun laws, people ignore them, anyway. In general, living is better, in my opinion, providing your terminal illness is not so painful that death is welcome. If in reasonable health, nature and man's creativity provide lots of incentive to keep on fighting the good fight.

Answer 7

do u know for sure that by killing urself u will b free from suffering? no. u dont know what will happen after that bcos it is unseen or unknown.
as v cannot decide where and when or how to b born, similarly, v have to undergo life's good or bad things in accordance with our fate(which is due to our deeds). v cannot escape it. birth and death r not in our hands.
people r so dissillusioned that they blame god or some others for their mis haps and bad state of life not realising that its result of their own doings.
the best thing is to at least be good and truthful and that way to clear our path for a good future.

Answer 8

Better from whose perspective?

If you are struggling through life then it is better from the perspective of the species that you just die... and leave the living to those better able to cope with it.... i.e. stronger.

From a personal instinctual perspective it is better to continue to struggle through life in the hopes that you will succeed, drag yourself out of the gutter and be far stronger for your experience.... thus more likely to express a higher proportion of influence in the next generation.


My recommendation though is just to ask yourself if you are actually READY to die... Only once you have taken all you wish from life will the time be right to move on.

Answer 9

It really depends on that specific condition I find myself in. But in my opinion there are always options. And when one finds themselves in helpless situations, one should be patient, & think of solutions. And many do. And many perhaps just live in helplessness. One should have 'the right mindset' to come out of it. The right attitude. It's always worth it to live. You just never know what brightness tomorrow may bring. But I believe in action, not luck (not as much atleast). Unless we do something different, we may be getting the same results over & over.

Answer 10

Life and death are irrelevant. If one is going to die in 30 years versus 1 week, what does it really matter? All of their memories, regrets, hopes, etc... will be gone. Poof.

So they should do whatever they think is best for them.