Suicide is never usually the answer, but in the end, we all have our right to life. That does, unfortunately, mean that we also have that right to end it.

That being said, anyone who feels such thoughts and expresses them should be given the help they need. Whether it be serious psychiatric/medical help, or just a shoulder to lean on, as the people who are in the life of one with suicidal thoughts/tendencies, it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to assist them and help find a better way.

Depression is hard, and it does lead to such a path, I know it personally and to the point where depression is more than just a mental anguish. For a good few years, it was a physical pain, and even now after everything has mostly been dealt with, I still go through periods where I either feel extremes in emotion, or feel completely emotionless. Sometimes I think the only thing that has allowed me to drive through that depression is that I have nearly crossed the threshold by my own hand. [@Flagg], as much as I want to say your points have some validity, it is [i][b]never[/b][/i] okay to put the blame on someone struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. As much as it may seem selfish to remove yourself from the lives of so many, you should instead seek to use those connections to show that person that there is still a life worth living. Using those connections to guilt someone into stopping what they feel to be the only way out can have drastically worse results, in that you can either drive them deeper into their despair, or force their hand and give them that last push to commit the act.

It's something that really only someone who has actually nearly gone through with it would know, but the most terrifying part about it, and what should really drive you to help people feeling these thoughts, is that suicide is terribly easy if someone is left to their own. All it takes is enough time with their own thoughts and the need to make everything stop for good, and it can drive you to commit to an action that you may not truly want. This is why you should always be there for someone who seems to be acting unlike themselves, and think first to help, not condemn. Sometimes all it really takes for someone on the verge is to know that [i]someone[/i] cares enough to say something.