ee171afi@sdcc3.UUCP (FREDERICK ACKROYD) (05/07/85)
Our society and its individuals condemn suicide in such a judgemntal fashion. There are individuals who see a better future after death. These people should not be condemned. There are some people who find a need to escape from their current situation. These people too should not be comdemned. The people who should be condemned are the attention getters who make a half-hearted attempt at taking their life and in doing so make their own life a burden on the people around them. There is so little honor and dignity in death and especially in old age in our society. Let us allow our fellow human to make personal judgements without forcing him/her into the judgement we find to be correct for our own situation, or our own perception of his/her situation. Frequently suicide is deplored as escapism and selfishness. I see those sentiments as being very self serving to the speaker. Frequently the speaker has not assessed the meaning of his/her own life. In other words, the speaker is highly threatened by the notion that perhaps the basis of his/her own exsistence is escapism on a more profound (less honest) scale. And the same thoughts can be found in the selfishness argument. Perhaps if more people regarded suicide as a valid "life plan", the thought and self-examination inherent in the decision to live would produce unparalleled levels of integrity, kindness and respect in our society. Perhaps you do not know why you are living. That is not the important question. How are you going to live? This is the key. steve