Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cangel]

It's not brave, it's selfish.

[Rory_Calhoun27]

[Kikomom]

Suicide is being more afraid of the future than of death. So it's both cowardly and brave--just of two different things at the same time.

[Sergio Stefanuto]

[need 2 know]

I think suicide is the ultimate sin. Hey, I'm going to listen to some Ozzy! Seriously, suicide, but even more- murder are bad business. One is throwing your makers gift back in his face and the other is depriving someone of theirs. Of course there are exceptions e.g. terminal pain, catching someone plooking your wife etc., but generally speaking it's the biggest no-no.

[Rteacher]

It's usually an act of total ignorance regarding the real (spiritual) nature of life.

The life that animates a body with consciousness never ceases to exist - even when the body is slain.

The usual karmic reaction to suicide is that you have to spend your next lifetime in a ghost body (full of material desires but unable to act on them - unless one can gain control of another person's body when they are weakened by intoxication...)

[Draz]

[Hyeon Een]

[VanIslander]

[The Gipkik]

[NaD00D00]

I guess I can sorta see the OP's perspective, but I've read quotes from even Koreans who say that Roh was just running from his problems rather than taking responsibility for his and/or family's actions.

It's a selfish thing to do, to try and escape your own suffering (whether you brought it upon yourself or not) because you end up passing even more suffering on many more people.

Let alone the fact that he was a former president. I mean, come on, if anyone is supposed to provide an example to people, wouldn't it be a person like that who served as president for his country?

I'm not trying to say whether or not the OP is trying to justify Roh's actions; I'm not quite sure if that was pointed out in earlier posts. BUT, regardless of whether or not suicide is "cowardly" or "brave', it's CLEARLY not the best of alternatives (let alone the right thing to do)...
Or so, IMHO.

[Panda]

I read all posts above.

Since I know there are many people on Dave's were psychology major, I reckon it would be more eloguent if we talked about suicide from a scientific aspect.

If you ever interviewed patients of major depression, you would know that they prefer death than living, the mental agony they suffer from is way more painful than any physical torture, we normal people just cant understand, surprisingly, the more depressed they are, the more cruel way they tend to choose to end their lives, such as jumping cliff, stabbing heart, cutting throat .

Also, they would make detailed plan before they conmit suicide, and they feel sorry to those related, thus they usually leave words asking others dont feel sad etc and commit suicide secretly. (those who threaten in public to jump from the top of a tall building dont really want to die).

In Noh's case, his suicide was determined to be more meaningful because he was the president, but again, he was also a human being, when he sufferred from a huge depression, he would do something that other hunam beings would do.

It has nothing to do with being coward or brave.

[flakfizer]

First, it doesn't matter what the local culture says on the issue. Some cultures believe in honor killings. Does that mean we should think those killings are indeed honorable?

Second, if suicide were an act of bravery, then why does the Korean government try to curb the act? Their putting up automatic doors on the subway platforms is reducing and preventing acts of bravery, apparently.

The word "brave" is also a verb. From dictionary.com (thesaurus section):

Main Entry: brave
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: endure bad situation
Synonyms: bear, beard, challenge, confront, court, dare, defy, face, face off, fly in the face of, go through, outdare, risk, stand up to, suffer, support, take on, venture, withstand

Antonyms: break down, capitulate, complain, dodge, fear, give up, hide, run away, skip

If you brave a situation, you bear it, you face it, you go through it, you stand up to it, you withstand it. If you don't brave it, you dodge it, run away, hide, give up. I don't see how suicide is braving a situation.

[Hyeon Een]

[Jammer113]