"So was Buffy sacrificing her life to save the world? Or was she committing suicide leaving others braver than herself to cope with the real challenge which is living in this world? People argue about this as though it had to be one or the other. But really, isn’t it both? And isn’t the both-ness of it what makes it so great, so arresting?"

Yes, it is and you're right. I've had tones of debates online about that with people who think to see it that way would be some kind of slight on Buffy's characters. Something I never saw it as.