Lets put a situation:

You are walking on a road bridge and suddenly watch a man/woman standing at the edge of the bridge, and you know he/she is going to jump soon or later.

Now, watching it from afar. Do you, as human being, in a sensible way, think that have some sort of responsibility in terms of the widely universal ethical norm of 'help each others', and help the man/woman to reanalyze why he/she wants to end his/her life, etc? Or the inaction to help in some way to the man/woman is an acceptable and reasonable decision?





What would you do?

Grab popcorn. I'm a horrible person

Came to thread expecting this. Was not surprised.

Considering they're just.. Standing there, with their back to you. I say grab them from behind, pull them back, throw them to the ground forcefully, and then give them one good, hard slap. Seriously. I think they'd be too shocked to be further depressed by this sudden assault, and the prospect of being assaulted and hurt might make them realize that pain hurts, so don't kill yourself. :v

... I probably just said some dumb ass shit right there, but uh. hey.

I'd feel obliged to do what I can to prevent it from happening. Not that I think suicide is always unreasonable, but I think in many cases people try to kill themselves for problems that are fixable and very temporary. Moreover, since the person chose to do it in public, I'll be inclined to interpret it as a call for help. It could well be that he was hoping someone would see, and intervene, and talk to him. Check this out: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pe...e-7754339.html

I've been on both sides of this situation. Was on the brink of offing myself at one point, with note prepared and everything, but pussied out. Things got better, and now I'm OK. Also another time I had a co-worker/acquaintance call me telling me he took lots of pills. I called the cops. Again, I could only interpret him contacting me as a call for help. So yeah.

suicide isn't a bad thing, but if I saw someone about to top themself I would give them a hug and chill with them for a while, and if they still want to go through with it then so be it.

i guess i wold help,i know alot of things about psychology.
sometimes the suicide can't be stopped,and have some motifs.
must ask why will he/she do it,and try to avoid him from doing it.

imma stroll up real quiet nice. get close behind 'em.
I'll lean in to make sure they can hear me clearly, and speak quietly, but firmly, and deeply.
"Gonna end it? That's a pretty weak way to go, and frankly, I'm not convinced. You're not even remotely serious."
They'll be more enthralled by my calm and control than startled by my sudden appearance and speech.
I'll go on, "No, I'm not convinced you want to die. You're scared."

By now they will either engage me or turn and embrace my words.

Even if they argue, it will eventually reach the same point, but their silent engorgement on my words would hasten to my next line:
"If you were serious about killing yourself, you could and would even have to be just as serious about ending the lives of others, yet you are so focused on harming yourself that you fail to assess the equation fully, or else you would have a decision. Your indecision indicates that you struggle with the logic of your situation, and that tells me that you want an outcome that does not exist. You desire a way of being that you are not doing. You've encountered an emotional investment that does not and will not pay off."

First rule of business is to protect your investment.

"So you're focusing on grasping something that not only is not within grasp, it is not even within reach. You desperately cling to some notion of an idea that your investment will pay off. You cannot hold this with your hands, or your mouth, or your stomach, or your guts. You try to hold it with your breath and in your heart, but it's not there, its barely even the idea of it, there. You suffocate yourself, and cease to think. This suffocation and thoughtlessness leads to self destruction. BUT any self that is facing destruction engages in fight or flight. You're not fleeing self destruction, nor fighting it, which means you have not yet realized you face it, nor have you actualized it in its own being. So if you're serious about killing yourself, you'd have to be just as serious about killing me. At least taking it out on someone or something externally, and not harming yourself. So i am not really convinced, you see, that you're standing there, contemplating your demise."

Knowing me, I would creep up behind them and pull them back, probably start crying and shit. That stuff kills me. They could be a little girl, or a really muscular man.

Suicide isn't the answer.

No you do not have a responsibility to help them. You are not obligated to be a good person.

Statistically if someone is going to kill themselves, they will do it, they won't stick around to be talked down. If they are sticking around, what they want is attention. Furthermore, jumping is a particularly lethal means, if someone is jumping then they are probably well aware of the consequences.

So yeah, you don't have to try talk them down, but you probably should try, and if it succeeds, then they probably didn't really intend to do it in the first place. If they do go through with it, then there was probably nothing you could have done anyway.

Immortal explained it better then I could.

I would most likely just try to call for help. There would be nothing I could do. Like immortal mentioned, if they really want to, they aren't going to wait around on me to talk to them.