One day you wake up and hear that a parent, a best friend, a classmate, a neighbor took their own life. Is your immediate thought: wow, that person is selfish? If it is, I ask you to really think about what it means to be selfish.

Selfish: lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.

See Also: There's A Problem With Glorifying Celebrities After Suicide

Now look at that definition and be honest with yourself. Do you actually believe someone taking their own life is doing it for personal profit or pleasure? There are many reasons for someone to take their own life.

From depression to regret, there is not one singular reason why someone commits this horrific act. For some, it can actually be a SELFLESS ACT. A parent, friend, or person who believes that they have become a burden, that those around them will be better off without them on this earth. Now, does that sound selfish?

As a child who lost her parent to suicide, I say that I am selfish. I am selfish because I wish every day and every night that my stepfather (who raised me from when I was 5) was still with me. When I have a question about my job, about boys, about life, I selfishly wish he was here for me to ask.

Want to know why it is selfish? That’s because he was in so much pain and mental anguish that he is now at peace even if he is not on this earth. It is selfish for me to not think of his pain and the reason why he felt it was the only way to find peace, but only think of my pain now that he is not here.

To those who say it is a selfish act, I ask you to look in the mirror and think of your own selfishness. Would you want your family, friends, and significant others to suffer alongside you as you battle depression, bipolar disorder, or any other mental anguishes?

I miss my father every moment of every day, but knowing he is at peace makes what he did acceptable to me. Knowing he is laughing in heaven (because I KNOW that’s where he is, don’t @ me) with my grandparents and watching over me gives me the peace I need.