Xander you have expressed your argument very well. I could not have put it better myself. Whilst suicide could well be said to be a selfish act in most circumstances, it is surely more selfish to expect someone to continue with a life they find unbearable to spare the survivors an almost certainly lesser pain. The degree of selfishness of the suicide also depends on how close and/or dependent their survivors are. It must surely seem more selfish for the parent of a young child to commit suicide, but even then we should not be too quick to judge, because a deeply depressed person could easily be convinced that their child is better off without them.

"Whatever pain you are going through, rest assured that the pain of your survivors shall be infinitely greater."?? Oh really? This statement is so sweeping and generalised as to be absolutely ridiculous.

SOME people COULD possibly leave one or more survivors who MIGHT end up feeling as much pain as as the person who took their own life, but only if the survivor happened to be a parent or a child, or a very, very close friend who really loved the person who committed suicide on a very deep level. But not everyone has children, or parents any more (all parents die eventually), or a friend who is really that close to them. I have friends who have had friends who committed suicide, and believe me they got over the death of the person who committed suicide perfectly well and it did not affect their long-term happiness at all. They felt sad and were upset for a short while after the death but there is no way they could be said to feel pain anything like as bad as that of someone who wants to end their life, never mind "infinitely greater". If you don't have a child or a parent, or someone as close as a spouse or genuine lover to mourn you, the truth is that no-one else's life is actually ruined because someone in their circle of friends or acquaintances committed suicide. Most of us are far more easily forgotten than we would like to think - life just goes on without us.