Suicide

A man called a telephone counselling service. Very calmly he explained to the counsellor that he had no reason to live and was going to kill himself that night. He said that he wanted to give somebody one last chance to change his mind. The counsellor, trying to keep calm, struggled to give the man some meaning to life, some reason to live. The man just didn't seem to have anything positive to live for. He was lonely and saw no hope. After a while the man sighed, and said, "Well, I've given you an hour or so, and you haven't really convinced me that life is worth living. I'm sorry, I appreciate that you did your best, but I'm afraid that I must do what I have to do." He then he hung up. The counsellor desperately traced the call, but it was too late, the man had shot himself.

The counsellor became very depressed over the following days and weeks, despairing over the whole ordeal, wondering what she could have said to change this man's mind. In the end, she reasoned that it was too late, what had happened had happened, and the man was right, she had done her best. She now tells everyone in the counselling business never to take the blame for another person's decision. If they decide not to take your advice, then that is their problem, no matter how detrimental. While many people agree with her, the man's family views the counsellor's philosophy somewhat differently.