In the ancient world suicide was often considered the noble way out, and it wasn”€™t until about 450 AD that it was deemed a sin. Dido, Socrates, Hannibal, Cato the Younger, Antony and Cleopatra, Nero, and Seneca all took their own lives. Back then people usually chose poison or the sword”€”far more romantic than, say, leaping off a bridge that leads to New Jersey. These days, not many people drink hemlock while pontificating about the soul’s immortality like Socrates did.

Remember the French banker who took his own life after investing more than a billion dollars of other people’s money in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme? His death seems more honorable and meaningful than anything to do with Twitter or drugs. At least Monsieur de la Villehuchet took responsibility for his own negligence, and given that he and his wife had no children, I can”€™t argue with his decision. The same cannot be said of Mark Madoff, who left a wife and two children in the wake of his father’s demise. Apparently he wasn”€™t crazy before the scandal came to light. Did the scandal flick the switch, or was he just a coward?

Choosing suicide in the face of embarrassment, emotional turmoil, or suffering may seem cowardly unless you consider that not all people are as strong, resilient, or hopeful as others. One shouldn”€™t underestimate the power that other people’s behavior can have on a person. 

Children and young people who are victims of sexual abuse are part of a grey area in the Cochran Guide to Suicide. In these cases suicide might actually prevent ongoing suffering after the fact if you assume messed-up people usually create a lot of collateral damage in their relationships with others. Some people really are beyond repair.

People who are suffering from painful and debilitating physical illnesses or from an accident fit into this grey area as well, but tremendous physical pain must be a factor. Paraplegia and quadriplegia are exempt if the person has a reasonable quality of life. In terminal cases, the rare exceptions and bizarre tales of people coming out of comas are anomalies that end up costing a lot of money and preventing loved ones from moving on with their lives, so have your loved ones pull the plug.

Almost everyone has probably been depressed enough to think about taking their own life, though it has always seemed like the cowardly way out to me. Doing it Hunter S. Thompson-style could be the answer. At the very least, it’s pretty damned cool. But leaving it up to chance is far easier”€”and thus maybe more cowardly”€”than making the decision yourself.