Father smothers daughters before committing suicide

[Sylvia727]

I don't know too many people that'd joke around about killing themselves. If he figured the guy was depressed, and he mentioned suicide, that should have at least set off a bell in his head.

I do. And they're all still alive and doing fine. Someone's having a bad day, and they joke that death is better than this? If someone's depressed, and trying to play it off as if they're fine, their sense of humor might be a bit more morbid than usual.

Even if the boss thought he was serious, which I doubt he did, this comment makes the guy sound like he was in phase one of thinking about it. Phase one - "I'd be better off dead, no one loves me". Phase two - "I'll hang myself in the basement, I'll buy a gun and shoot myself". In other words, it's the difference between wanting it and planning it. So while the boss would have a moral obligation to tell someone, there was no indication that the danger was immediate.

[MadMike]

I'm with AFPheonix on this one. I don't see where cowardice is shown here.

If he had taken his own life, and hadn't taken any innocent people with him, I might agree. But the fact is, he did take the lives of some innocents, and for that, I believe him to be cowardly.

I know what it's like to feel like there is no hope, and just wanting all the pain to go away. And I've had "those" thoughts running thru my head. But I never, ever even contemplated taking any innocent people with me.

[Greenday]

I don't know if that is a cowardly act in the sense being mentioned though. I don't think he was trying to get out of punishment by committing suicide. And I don't know if I'd consider the murders cowardly. I can't really come up with a decent adjective to describe it though.

[AFPheonix]

I would describe it as an act by someone not in his right mind. He may have even had some sociopathy going on, who knows. But this wasn't a person who had the benefit of dealing with a full deck apparently.

[Greenday]

That works. A lot of screws loose.