Is suicide ever okay?

[Senior citizen]

More than one Holocaust survivor committed suicide when they saw right-wing popularity start to rise. It was sort of a, "Been there, done that, and once was enough," type thing, I guess.

Personally, I don't blame them, do you?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. It's a matter of personal choice.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. If one has a life threatening illness, sure.

Other than that, I try not to pass any judgement either way.

[Senior citizen]

3. Hmmmmm........

Maybe an increase in conservatism could be called a life threatening social disease.....

[candy]

4. Huh? Can you document that?

[Senior citizen]

6. Victor Frankel & a French philosopher (for 2). (n/t)

[kenth]

16. Victor Frankel, Auschwitz survivor

died of heart failure in 1997.

[molly]

5. Where did you hear or read that?

[Senior citizen]

7. Both of them made the news.

I remember Frankel because he wrote on how a good sense of humor helped him survive the concentration camps, but I'm having a senior moment and can't recall the famous philosopher's name right now. I'm sure they're not the only ones.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

35. Actually Man's Search for Meaning was the basis for logotherapy

and dealt with how those that could conjure up a reason or a meaning for their life could locate a reason to live under the worst of circumstances...humor was one tool for coping but that wasn't the actual crux of Frankl's reasoning.

[candy]

8. You can name one and think there is another one?

That's two and I wouldn't consider that too significant statistically.

[Senior citizen]

9. Primo Levi is the other, just googled it, and more came up. (n/t)

[Karenina]

11. It is a decision

made by an individual that NO ONE can contravene. Yes, it is OK. Anyone can rant or rave after the fact about shoulda-woulda-coulda...
But once any sentient being carries that DECISION THROUGH, all judgement is simply BULLSHIT.

[candy]

12. Thanks-----I'm a senior too so I'll ask you-----

What does the (n/t) mean that I've seen at the end of a lot of posts?

Off subject but I am curious.

[moof]

14. WELCOME TO DU candy

n/t as well as other DU doodles explained in link below
n/t = no text contained in the message field so no need to click to read it.

WELCOME TO DU candy

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[candy]

17. Thanks! I plan on doing what the cat in the top picture is doing--

in about 5 minutes!

[PfNJ]

15. n/t = No Text

no words in message field, they said all they needed to say in the title of their reply

[candy]

18. Thanks! I was too embarassed to ask,I figured it was a no brainer==

and I didn't have the brains to figure it out.

[kenth]

23. Primo Levi spent his literary life

putting memory to paper. He left no suicide note, but there's no real leap in understanding how a person who relived on a daily basis the time he spent in Auschwitz could consider suicide. Add to this the survivor's guilt he must have had, especially when you consider that his last book is more direct and personal in putting forth the questions of why some survived and why it happened at all.

[BBradley]

10. It's your choice, but it does affect more than just you.

[Senior citizen]

24. Not necessarily.

I was considering suicide (had, in fact, planned it carefully to be carried out as soon as I got my eviction notice) when, after having been homeless for 20 years, and having just gotten a place to live, the Reagan cuts almost put me back on the street again. I didn't kill myself, primarily because I've been lucky enough to have a place to live since then, but if I had there wasn't a soul on earth who would have missed me. In fact, I'm in senior housing now, and the guy 2 doors down from me died in his apartment. They found him 3 weeks later, but only because his rent was late.

[Just Me]

28. I am sorry that you have had to suffer so.

I don't think any human being is sufficiently righteous to judge or even comprehend another human being's pain. We can only try to understand,...we can only try.

I've known many people over my lifetime who have been in such great pain that they have taken their own lives. I mourn that they could longer bear that pain and always imagine them in a peaceful place where they will never suffer, again.

[Champ]

13. Here are my thoughts

A few years back I had a good friend who hung himself in a school bathroom.(He went to a different school at the time, we used to be in the same school though) When word got back to the school I was at the time attended got out it was a dark day. He left behind a very beatiful and great g/f, she was crying nonstop so the teacher excused her to let her go home. I couldn't figure it out, he had alot going for him but I can understand how hard life can get and how hard it can beat you down. I'm not sure about it, I think it's important to keep on living no matter how hard life gets. He had his entire life ahead of him, he could've accomplished so much. It affects alot of people when you decide to off yourself.

[candy]

20. You are so right.The impact on the family and friends is------

awful. The constant wondering if you could have done something or if you missed a clue.

We had one in our family many years ago and it still hurts.

[TexasMexican]

19. I believe that people have the right to commit suicide...

but depending on thier situation I might have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of them.

If its an older person with a terminal disease and they are in extreme pain then I would not think any less of them if they ended thier life.

However if its just some teen with some angst who kills themselves I wouldnt have a very favorable opinion of them.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

25. I agree...

The first scenario with the elderly or terminally ill person, is understandably. The other is just pure selfish teenage bullshit.
Duckie

[BlondieK143]

21. I'm not one to judge others.

With that said, it is my opinion that suicide is a very selfish act. Not only are you taking your own life and robbing yourself of the amazing things you could've done or the people you could've touched, you're taking a part of every person you've came into contact with. I have no right to judge others, I guess I just simply don't understand. Life isn't going to be easy all the time, that's why we have to work at it. We take the good with the bad. Some people experience more bad in their lifetimes than they think they can handle, but it is possible to work through it. There are millions upon millions of people who fight that same fight each day.

Like I said, this is just my opinion.

[Nikia]

22. I usually disagree with that decision

If it is someone with a terminal disease and they are already becoming in pain or disable because of it, I do not not think that decision is wrong especially, if their family and friends are prepared for it.
I think that there are better ways to show political or social protest than killing oneself. It is better to be alive to fight another day.
The worst suicides are those in which the person who killed themselves these behind people who think highly of them and look up to them. Theses people don't should destroy their live. They hurt others and sometimes destroy other lives. It isn't that unusual for suicides to follow other suicides, even good bye notes citing that.

[Shopaholic]

26. The folks on 9/11 who jumped from the WTC. . .

that was a justificable suicide to me, or more correctly, their last act of free will. A former co-workers killed herself about a month ago. I always view suicide as a momentary lapse in sanity and wonder if that person could see the pain inflected by their loved one's by their actions--would it make them change their minds?

[Servo300]

27. I'm not sure I would classify that as actual suicide....

[Senior citizen]

30. Yes, that's suicide

You have no escape, and it is painful to be burned to death or die of smoke asphyxiation. So, like a patient with a painful terminal disease (this doesn't apply in non-facist countries that permit pain alleviation for terminal patients, or for those lucky enough to get into a hospice here), I think you have the right to cut your suffering short.

The lesson I learned from my Holocaust studies, was that fascists like to inflict the most possible humiliation, pain, and suffering on people before they kill them.

And not everybody has anyone who will miss them. After the 3-weeks gone guy, my building started a program where people put signs on their doors, and if the sign isn't removed and replaced regularly, somebody on their floor is supposed to tell the manager to check on them. We have 150 units and about 100 signed up for the program. There are also free programs that phone seniors and shut-ins once a day, and go out and check if they don't answer the phone, but I think some of these programs are subject to budget cuts.

I don't feel I have a wasted life because even though nobody might miss me, I won't have millions of people saying good riddance to bad rubbish, like you know who. In fact, I believe (rightly or wrongly) that although I'm not in touch with them, there are a lot of people who, if somehow made aware of my death, might have fond memories. Not that I'm planning suicide, of course, but, on the other hand, should * get reselected and cut subsidized housing for seniors, I haven't forgotten what my options are.

[Nikia]

33. Well, I think at least one guy survived

A police officer from my hometown said that he talked to a man who jumped and survived. He jumped a second befoer it collapsed and the currents around the collapsing building slowed his fall and he landed in softer debris. Even if no one survived though, in a situation like that death is certain if you stay so some might beleive that jumping allows a small chance of survival. Isn't equally suicidal to stay in a burning structurually unstable building? Would a man who tried to escape as they were leading him to the execution chamber be suicidal if the guards shot him?

[Servo300]

34. Suicide? Maybe...

An attempt to escape the flames and heat? Maybe also.

[LastKnight]

29. the only person that can judge the value of one's life...

is themself... they are also the only ones who can gauge the ammount of pain and suffering they are in, and how much they are willing to take.

that being said... its up to that person... and no one else can judge them on/for it.

-LK

[Nikia]

31. I don't think that people always realize their worth

They don't always know how much they mean to others. They don't always know what they contribute. When a person is depressed, their mind tends to exaggerate the negative and minimize the good. There are those who inspired me and continued to inspire me. In some ways, they helped me preserve through truly horrible times in my life. Had they killed themselves I would have been truly devestated. I may have killed myself even. If they cannot handle life, how can I? Or maybe not, I had to live to protect my sister. The few times that I have been told that I contributed to someone's life or inspired them, I have been truly shocked. I did not know, just as some of those people who inspied me in my youth probably didn't know either.
I know that people who are deeply depressed and suicidal usually wouldn't believe that people truly cared for them and looked up to them even if people told them that. That is tragic but in their sickness, they are not horrible people. I would judge a person negatively who knew of their worth to others and really knew how much they would hurt them and killed themselves anyway.

[NightTrain]

32. Only if I commit it!

:evilgrin: