I think it’s important to note that Ben’s motivation for committing suicide shifted once he fell in love with Emily. Before he met her, he saw his “sacrifice” as merely penance for his “sin” and an end to his emotional anguish. He saw no value in his own life. He hated himself. He commented to Emily in regards to his life, “Unremarkable would be an upgrade.”

Emily helps him see life beyond loss. And she helps him see his own worth. When he tells her that he hasn’t been taking very good care of himself (due to his shame and self-hatred), she says, “You should start.” Ben begins to envision life beyond his pain. He wants to live. He wants to be with Emily. Ben only follows through with his plan once he is convinced that he is Emily’s only chance for survival. His motivation then shifts from self-hatred to sacrificial love. When he actually “does the deed” I don’t believe he sees himself as “paying for his sins” any longer. This is not to say that I agree with his actions. However, sinful or not, he sacrificed himself for the woman he loved.

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 ASV. This was Jesus’ exhortation to His disciples. I guess they weren’t supposed to take it literally? What did Jesus mean by “lay down his life”? Was He merely encouraging them to be loving and selfless? I’m honestly not sure, and I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Also, how would you respond to a man who took a bullet in the chest to save a friend? Or pregnant woman who chooses her baby’s life over her own? Are these scenarios completely different, or do they hold some similarities?

This all makes for some very interesting discussion. I don’t completely agree with your review, but I appreciate your insight. It made me think.

Take care.

I do believe suicide is a grave act that encompasses negativity, yet the portrayal of an “enlightenment of love” is depicted as Smith’s reasoning for taking his life. If Smith could no longer find the joy his body parts had once offered, why is it not righteous to offer them to others who could? In this sense he is a martyr.

In this case, the circumstances of Smith’s life are relevant to his decision. Much like every individual in existence. Who carries the power to create such overarching judgements as you have done? You excuse the mortally ill for you cannot understand their pain, yet insult those suffering from the degrees of emotional pain as if this pain is not real. (”Of course there may be pathetic emotional excuses for the act.”) And still you argue that no man can ever have a righteous desire to die. The choice of a parent to save his/her children. The act of teachers in Columbine saving lives of students. The will of Jesus to die for all of mankind. Your argument classifies all of these situational suicides as undignified. Do you believe only Jesus is a martyr?

Avoiding Ad Hominem statements, I see fault in your argument in its framework of bipolarity. Life is unique to all. And all have their own decisions that are equally justified to yours or mine. It is not for anyone to discriminate the acts of others, lest they be judged.

Skeptics such as yourself and I may never agree, but I caution you that it is not wise to understand in only black and white.

“His ultimate selfish act of suicide, we are emotionally manipulated to believe, was a heroic act because of what he did with all his worldly possessions (his body etc). This is bullshit. To understand why suicide is so morally reprehensible in almost every situation (I withhold judgment for people in egregious physical pain that can’t be alleviated- I don’t know what I’d do in that eventuality).”

In your parenthesis you state “egregious physical pain”, but unless faced with a situation as Will Smith’s character was emotionally faced with, you must (to look at the situation in a fair and unbiased manner) withhold judgment as you said you do “for people in… physical pain”. The emotional state one can be put into can be as painful or even far more painful then any physical pain one could imagine.

I believe that either way, Smith’s character could not emotionally handle living with himself for the rest of his life due to what he caused to his wife and those 6 other people. So instead of committing suicide to end the pain selfISHly, he instead committed suicide selfLESSly, by giving all of his material possessions away as well as his body to those he deemed genuinely good people.

Yes, you can make the argument that if he were to live he could do a lot more for a lot of people, but you don’t know his emotional state he is in and if in fact he could suffer through each day picturing his wife everywhere he went and every time he closed his eyes, including those other 6 people he killed flashing into his head when he closed his eyes. Even more, he wouldn’t be able to give the blind man sight, his heart to the woman with a failing one, a kidney to the man who donated his time to the Hispanic youth, part of his liver to the woman who worked in Child Protective Services, his brother one of his lungs, his house to the abused Hispanic woman and her two kids, and lastly, bone marrow to a little boy.

Those are acts of ultimate selflessness, especially for someone who cant stand to live on this earth any longer with the pain and knowledge that he not only ruined his life, killed his wife, but killed 6 other people and devastated the lives of those peoples families.

Did you like “The Dark Knight?” I can’t remember if we discussed this already, but I think a real hero was presented in this film in the character of Batman. He continues to do what is right even though it is difficult and increasingly unpopular. Anyway, time to leave for our trip. Talk to you soon.

I simply feel that its message is one that needs to be addressed. And let me just say, if you don’t think I’m relaxed about this, you obviously don’t know me. I’m relaxed to a fault.