Suicide is not a crime; your law makes it a crime. In a better world where freedom is respected more, if a person wants to die, he will invite his friends along. For a few days he will live with his friends, he will dance and sing and listen to good music, read poetry and go visiting neighbors to say goodbye. One day all will gather together and he will simply die. And they will have given him a good send-off! In a better world suicide will not be a crime.
You just have to change your attitude. And you have to be very clear about me: I am not an ordinary teacher who consoles people. My commitment is towards truth, not towards consolation. Howsoever uncomfortable the truth is, my commitment is towards truth. This to me is a sacred phenomenon, freedom.
If [your friend] decides to commit suicide, that’s perfectly okay; you should be able to give that freedom to him. You are resisting it: he has already committed suicide and you are not giving him permission to go through with it. That is your problem, that is not his problem. He has not created the problem, he has simply provoked a problem which has always been in you. Now let him go, say goodbye, relax and understand it.
From: Believing The Impossible Before Breakfast : Chapter 3
