I find it extremely distasteful, but this is an Internet forum and a fair question. Do not recommend bringing this up in casual conversation! This question will

I find it extremely distasteful, but this is an Internet forum and a fair question. Do not recommend bringing this up in casual conversation! This question will probably lead to ended friendships if you approach someone who has been suicidal in the past, or has lost someone to suicide. Also it's pedantic in a really ignorant and dumb way, and not nearly as clever as you think it is. There are examples of people taking their own life due to physical maladies which I can COMPLETELY understand, and choosing to end your own life kevorkian-style is understandable to most people: Robin Williams had dementia. His mind had basically completely gone before the end, his wife spoke of the rages and lack of understanding of what was happening around him. But many people choose to end their own life when they are young, healthy, and in a pit of despair that they feel they will never escape. Depression is a mental illness which symptoms of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. So there you go. That is why. Depression is a mental illness. We as a society have deemed having no value of life, including your own, is aberrant behavior. I would argue that "deciding to commit suicide" for no other reason than you are tired of being alive, or want to "decide your own fate" is completely psychotic. Also, saying "It's your choice" and doesn't affect anyone else is just insanely wrong. As I've grown older and lost people around more at a higher rate, it is ASTOUNDING the hole left behind when you lose a loved one.