"The Coward Sneaks to Death, the Brave Live On."

The reading of the statement, "The coward sneaks to death, the brave lives on," will definitely generate mixed emotions in most people. I do agree that it takes a brave person to carry on with life when in the face of great adversity and seemingly insurmountable odds. However, I can also sympathise with those who decide to end their existence and thus their earthly troubles, by choosing suicide.

Some people seem to think that the act of suicide is a cowardly one and they treat it with absolute contempt and disdain. However, if we were to stop and think for a moment, have we all not contemplated suicide at one stage of our lives or another? Therefore, before we begin condemning others for choosing the way of the "coward," we should ask ourselves whether we have ever wanted to be a coward when times were tough and our spirits seemed low.

A coward is it person who is afraid and unable to withstand and overcome problems. All of us are cowards when we are put into situations that terrify us. Some of us are unable to face parental stress and some are even afraid to face reality. People will always respond differently when put into situations where the odds are against them. Some will stand firm in a certain situation while others make a cowardly escape but when put in another situation, the opposite may happen. The once brave one and mighty may start running and the once cowardly may just plant their feet firmly on the ground. Therefore, we cannot objectively define a person as a coward. He may behave cowardly in only some situations but stand firm in most situations. Those who commit suicide may have met. with the only difficulty that they are unable to deal with and they decide on suicide as the only possible solution.

Being brave enough to 1ive on when overburdened with worries and troubles is a commendable thing that all of us can agree on. Those who have the courage usually receive some form of help from others who have been through the same experience in life. They usually have anchors on their sanity because they have something or someone worth living for. Most of us think that everyone else is just like us, having a specific aim and objective in life. But few of us know that there are people out there who exist because they do not have a choice and suicide is always on their list of solutions to problems. Even for those of us who are aware of their predicament, few can really understand.

The author of the statement in question is probably one who has lived or is living a life that is relatively free from crushing doubts and troubles. He or she is not necessarily wrong but I believe that the statement presents a one-sided view of suicide and the courage of living on. We all have certain fears that we are afraid to face and most of us do not even know what they are yet. It may be the loss of a loved one or a destroyed career but most of us have not and probably will not have to face it. Those who do commit suicide are those who have encountered a situation in which they lose the will to live on.

In conclusion, I feel that the statement is not a fair one because we can be brave or cowardly depending on the situations that we encounter every day. It is not that all of us are very brave to keep on living but probably because we have not lost our will to live.