I guess you’re right that it takes an enormous effort to hold on to life in those situations. It reminded me of the book by Viktor Frankl, the one about his observations on who died and who lived while he was in a concentration camp. Man’s Search for Meaning. Although I wouldn’t say all cases of letting go are weak. Sometimes depressive states are like allergies, an organic reaction to low light, lack of nutrients, etc. But I can now see your point.

The thing I cannot agree with is the ulterior reason. You speak, and probably many people would do too, as if life were an obligation or the right path to follow. As if staying alive was the point, and therefore to submit to the desire to leave or to escape was inherently wrong or mistaken. But there’s no mandate to live in my book. Whoever decides to persevere in life has the right to do so, but, to me, it is just as valid to leave because there is no point in being born nor in dying (again, as far as we know) anyway.

I just commented this to some other person here. I’ll paste my answer; I hope that’s okay.

China, India, Peru, and Mexico, to name a few, have deeper and larger canyons. A similar one to the Grand Canyon is the Copper Canyon. It is located in Chihuahua, Mexico. It is four times larger and almost twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. It has many tourists’ activities, and you can even add other destinations to your journey if you visit it by train. It is a nice option while we all wait for the end of the almost-fascist/probably-fascist situation in the U.S.

China, India, Peru, and Mexico, to name a few, have deeper and larger canyons. A similar one to the Grand Canyon is the Copper Canyon. It is located in Chihuahua, Mexico. It is four times larger and almost twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. It has many tourists’ activities, and you can even add other destinations to your journey if you visit it by train. It is a nice option while we all wait for the end of the almost-fascist/probably-fascist situation in the U.S.

Are you implying suicide is a weak option? I don’t believe so. It’s not a stronger stance to side with a survival instinct; you could say it’s actually the easiest thing to do. It requires nothing more than to exploit our biology (adrenaline, aggression, etc.). Not to downplay the complexity of all of us animals, but it’s not extraordinary to behave like that, just as a lion or a rat would do too.

The other option requires something unique to humanity (until now and as far as we know) that is to question our actions, to reflect upon them, to give them a personal value, and to make decisions upon all of this. Few animals commit suicide and probably most do so due to a pathological state and not a philosophical argument behind. To embrace this is very hard; it goes against our body’s program.

I won’t say it’s necessarily stronger, but neither is it weaker. I admire the honesty and bravery of doing such questions.