From Suicidal to Suicide Bombers

Whenever I read something about the suicide bombers, I wonder what drives them to the brink of taking such a drastic action. Some explanations that I have come across:

a) Brain-wash into religious/communal/racist devotion,
b) Unpardonable sins committed against their family/loved ones
c) Historical exploitation of the class they belong to,
d) Possible blackmail


I am probably not the best person to pass judgements on the righteousness of their actions since I have never been in any such situation even remotely resembling to what they have been subjected to. However, I do hold strong respect for the sheer motivation/ drive that these guys possess - the unwavering focus towards that one thing that they want to achieve and undaunted by the monstrous odds against them.

On the other end of the spectrum lies a suicidal person. Dejcted by circumstances and faced by the unadmissible prospect of not being able to influence the circumstances, these guys take to taking their lives. Some of us call it the easier way out; others refer to them as societal/system failures. Again, most of us would not know what it is to be in such a person's shoes. Whatever be the case, the person is driven to such extremes so as to stop living.

How similar are the above two cases! In both, the person is willing to take his/her life. In both, they are driven by circumstances. In many cases, both are willing to take others' lives - in the case of a suicidal person, often times, he/she takes his/her family alongside.

But yet, at a closer scrutiny, these cases are so different that you wonder how such a contrast can exist in cases so similar. I think the difference lies in the fact that in the former case, the person is willing to take the most desperate course of action in a bid to change the circumstances (for others) while in the latter, the person is fed up of the circumstances and is willing to succumb to it with little regard for others (family/loved ones) who will continue to be thulped by the very same circumstances.

The former is highly fired while the latter is utterly depressed, both representing two ends of the motivation continumm. Somewhere in between, all of us crawl.