Yea it was. Thats ****ing cheap. I live in the city with 2 other people but after electric and rent still comes to 300 or so.

I guess so, though it's pretty normal around here. Although we live just out of the city... if we actually lived right in the city it would be about 5x more expensive...

I was about to ask what the currency ratio was but decided to look myself. Pretty damn close.

1 Australian dollar = 0.9929 US dollars

Hah! In contrast, me and my GF pay ~1145 USD per month for our apartment .. And it's both small and considered cheap :(

I forget where you are located mate.

Hehe, Norway :)

jezus christ.
The netherlands aren't what you'd call cheap but I think you could find a seperated house here, for that aont of money.

The average wage here is $40,711.61, which works out to $55,017.67NZ.

I believe suicide is not cowardly, so long as it isn't due to a momentary lack of judgement or as a snap reaction. I was suicidal for a number of years until I reached a point where it just wasn't an option anymore. I was on a few different types of antidepressants which I found to be only making at worse, even after being on them for 3 years. I stopped taking them almost a year ago now, and I've never seriously thought about ending my life since..
here is a poem some may find comforting:

"Delicate line between heaven and earth…
The calm of the ages, all the world's worth.
Such minuscule measure, while we think it so grand…
Just five specks of smallness,
This soft quiet land.

So frail and so fleeting, in the end you will see
Simple dreams were Horatio's philosophy.

For all the truth, all creation, all secrets of yore
Can be told in an instant, by then they're no more.

Ah, The Unexplainable
All worries unsettled, heartache unresolved…
All questions unanswered, with death, shall be solved.

We already teeter, this sheer cliff so high.
When we fall to corruption, insecurities die.

To end is to start; to surrender is to know.
Despair and depression, together they grow.
Hope shall meet hopeless when there's nowhere to go."

This was written by a Japanese philosopy student named Misao Fujimura on a tree before he jumped to his death, from a waterfall. It's helped me a lot.

I think (and forgive me if some of this is wrong), that Depression and Suicide are two things that are near impossible to avoid. Most of it depends on how your childhood was, and the affect the people who raised you had on you. Because, there are certain things that will affect a child's mind to start going crazy as they grow up.

Arguing:
Sure, a lot of parents argue about a lot of stupid ****, but when it comes down to it, if you really listen to a lot of the arguments that parents share between each other, a lot of it is really pointless and could have easily been avoided by just apologizing and letting it go. That goes the same for any arguing really.

Divorce:
I know for a fact that a lot of people get heavily affected by this sort of thing. It crushes a child's heart to have to see both the people that brought him or her into this world, suddenly split up with no knowledge as to why or how it happened. Some kids have to live with the "im sure it was my fault" guilt. I've never experienced that, but i'm sure it's nowhere near wonderful.

Spanking/Hitting/Etc
Now, I know that spanking is a part of almost every kids childhood, but I honestly think that it has a big part in why people get depressed. I don't know if this is correct or anything, its strictly opinionated, but I think if a child gets used to being spanked, it tells their mind that they should just get used to being hit. That goes for the people who smack people upside the head, or what have you. I mean...being hit by someone 20 or 30 years older than you could easily have a big impact on how a child sees the world. It could make them think that the world is a nasty place.

After that, the depression would come naturally because they are too afraid to step foot into the world. And with no social contact or anything, that can lead to a multitude of different scenarios.