why does society almost universally try to keep people alive against there will? Don’t they realize that we are all terminal and going to die someday anyway? Don’t they realize that denying someone’s natural right to chose to end there own lives no matter what is a total introchment on that persons individuals right to choose?
Thank about it….a depressed 21 year old person chooses N to end his own life. Let’s say in an alternate reality, he decided to live out the remainder of his life until he died of a massive heart attack at 70. He ended up spending most of his life happy and had a wife kids, yada yada yada. Would it even matter in 100 years? The end result will be the same anyway.
If our consciousness is going to be perminatly taking away from us away, then what is the point of living for the good days when in the future, we will be too dead to remember the good times and will forever be unable to experience anything ever again. Death for me would be no different than going back to 1982, a year before I was born, I didn’t exist and knew nothing, in the future, the same will be true.
People get crazy in this world – believing in God or The Secret or thst they was put on earth for some kind of special purpose. These beliefs are the brains subconscious attempts to override a truth that is hard to handle.
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The psychiatrists told me that I’m very well spoken and intelligent and talented. Do they say that to everyone? I’m thinking they probably say that to everyone.
Anyways, most of em think I have Borderline Personality Disorder. That shit is very hard to treat. Maybe we have REALITY disorder.
I get the point you are making, wndoz. But (and yes of course there is one) Society will collapse if we allow everyone to kill themselves. Think about it. That depressed 21 year old takes his life. He has a circle of friends and family. They get depressed and are in mourning, some of them think well what’s the point of this, and even only if one or two of that circle end things too, members of their circle are going to be affected, and so on spiraling out. That’s just this one person here, there’s others who would have done suicide and more rippling would occur til a fair majority of the population are dead. What are you left with then?
That ripple effect happens when people live, too. Contributions have been made that have in some regards improved the lives of others, even if the person who caused it has been long dead. If the 21 year old lived to have a happy life and kids, it’d matter in the sense that his progeny was still around and living, and the way they acted was influenced largely by the way he treated them.
It’s because others end up affected that we don’t just allow euthanasia across the board. And some people like to live in their blanket thinking everything’s ok and life is great, lucky for them. They live a life they consider worth living, so it’s sometimes hard for them to see how someone else can’t see life like they do.
I’m trying to find some meaning in my life, because otherwise there is no point in me sticking around for the 50+ lifespan in store for me. People live in the hopes of a better tomorrow because they want something worthwhile in their life, something that gives them contentment or happiness. People who believe in God just have a different view of the Truth than you do, there’s no real proof who’s right either way. We could end up in a void of nothingness, or go to heaven/hell, or be reincarnated. No one really knows.
You make a great point about the ripple effect. But people die all the time by accident and the ripple effect doesn’t happen like that. Example: auto accidents, murder, and suicide killed around 100,000 Americans a year collectively. This doesn’t take into account other accidents and diseases, Still the vast majority of the time, the loved ones of the victims don’t take there own lives and move on despite the pain. If euthanasia was allowed fully, most wouldn’t take it, just a few like me. Society must learn that the dead don’t suffer so a prolonged mourning is only for the living.
As for religion, I’m an atheist but I understand people have a different point of view. Reincarnation doesn’t make sense according to the laws of physics and when I was a Christian I always use to say “hell is for hitters”. Back then I thought of a god as an understanding God who would never send someone to hell for all eternity just because they wanted to end there suffering. Hell for eternity doesn’t make sense to me anyway. What’s the point of eternal punishment if there is no chance at redemption? I believe heaven and hell are mythological places just like Vahalla or Shangra La.
The deeper issue is – if we are born against our will, than why should we be forced to stay alive against our will? Nobody signed up for this life. Life is due to the actions of our parents. We shouldn’t be forced to conform to society just because of what our parents did. Plus if people thinks lives like mine really matter, than why don’t they treat me like it? Yes my family and far away sweetheart treads me like my life matters, but it doesn’t take away my loneliness.
I have to say I think if suicide was an acceptable construct in society and quick easy methods made readily available then more people would choose that option with less thought about alternatives. I think most people have had that “I want to die/ I wish I were dead’ thought at least once in their life. If they had that pill during that darkest time, I think they would take the chance. It’d be easier and more certain, and more available than a lot of methods. They wouldn’t even have to really think about it.
I’m agnostic myself, though I think nothing awaits after this life. Which laws of physics prevents reincarnation? Matter can not be created or destroyed, just change form. If we accept the premise of a ‘soul’ for a moment as the collective consciousness of a person, then when a person dies, that matter can’t stop existing and thus must go somewhere, perhaps into another being. Scientists learn new things even now, anyway, and old theories are disproven. With regards to Christianity, I’ve had a few problems with that faith, including hell without redemption. But I admire the strength and certainty that some people gain from their religion.
Again, because society can’t allow it to happen on a large scale if it hopes to survive. There is some abuse of the euthanasia system in countries where it’s allowed. And Society needs conformation to exist as it does, at least to an extant. That doesn’t make Change to the system impossible, but most changes require bloodshed, and time. Plus the taking of a life has hypocritically been a large taboo in many societies throughout the ages, even when practices such as the death penalty take place.
“Why don’t they treat me like it?” ok that one’s a bit more difficult to address. I don’t know, wndoz. People fall into the classification of ‘Good’, ‘Bad’, and’ Indifferent’. Some people just get their kicks off of using and abusing others, and sometimes otherwise decent people lash out. The Indifferent ones don’t much care, and the Good ones are kind of hard to find. Plus it’s hard to trust people, you don’t know what kind of person someone is and often you don’t want to find out because of the Bad ones ruining it for everyone else (and I recognize that these are just general classifications, but it’s for the point of simplicity). … But those people in your life think your life matters, even though you do feel lonely. That counts for something, at least.
Personally I believe that when you die, your death, no matter how it’s caused, is going to have the potential to create a ripple effect. Yes, me dying by suicide is different than dying by, say, a car accident. However, I don’t believe we should stop doing whats personally best for us at the consideration of others, not this big of a decision. We should make the most compassionate decision possible, of course, and try to minimize the pain and trauma that is ultimately to be caused, but it’s your life. It you’re suffering, you have the right to end it- and sadly, that’s not anyone else’s decision to make.
To me, the reason why suicide is discouraged is exactly WHY euthanasia isn’t allowed- because if everyone noticed how shitty their lives were, how corrupt, painful, and agonizing life really is, they would pop the reality bubble that our society has created, this weird sort of pre-determined existence meant to keep us all blinded to the reality of the world. Some would try to change it, many would, actually. But more would realize the pain they feel, and they too would seek to escape it by seeking eternal rest.
Basically, if anyone ever tried to understand suicide they’re minds would pop and society as well know it would collapse… and The People in Power Don’t Want That
Mental illness is a lot more unpredictable than physical illness – it’s hard to know what it’ll take for someone to recover and if they will. You could argue that people shouldn’t always be responsible for their own life and death decisions when they’re experiencing mental illness. It’s a complex subject. On the other hand, I’ve never thought there were reasons good enough to stop someone terminally ill from dying before it becomes more painful towards the end.
As for your example though, the end result wouldn’t be the same. Eventually everyone will die and won’t remember being happy – but they were happy in that time. It doesn’t have to last forever for it to be worthwhile. If someone said the way I feel now doesn’t matter because eventually I’ll be dead and won’t remember it, it wouldn’t stop it from mattering now. It doesn’t make the pain any less real. The impermanence of our experiences doesn’t make them non-existent.
I agree with all of this.
I wonder how many people killed themselves since the beginning of time?
Thats a good question. I wonder how many people have killed themselves too. And I wonder what their existence is after it. And I also wonder how many of them…if they are still conscious are glad they did and or how many regret it. Some of these questions we may never know the answer to.
I think all these questions come around to the age old one of , “What is the meaning of life?”