Suicide

[DeterminedJuliet]

I watched a documentary on 9/11 the other day.  It turns out that nobody "jumped" - all the 200 or so poor devils who fell from windows were "forced out by the fire".  To me, there's no difference but seemingly many Christians would be very unhappy to think that their loved ones killed themselves, whereas being forced out by the flames is OK.
Insanity.

How could they possibly know that no one jumped?

[OldGit]

Good question.  ???

[Stevil]

It turns out that nobody "jumped" - all the 200 or so poor devils who fell from windows were "forced out by the fire". 

What's the difference?
Do they think someone may have been suicidal and just took the opportunity to jump?

[Davin]

It turns out that nobody "jumped" - all the 200 or so poor devils who fell from windows were "forced out by the fire". 

What's the difference?
Do they think someone may have been suicidal and just took the opportunity to jump?

Because if they're Catholic (for example), they're supposed to suffer an agonizing death by burning alive than to sin and jump to their deaths. But like I said earlier, they can do their Hail Marys on the way down and be forgiven of their sin before they die.

[saulgood]

I am an Atheist and a Naturalistic thinker.

I propose that an individual's life is only of real genuine value so long as, on balance, it proves beneficial to the survival and propagation of it's genes.

If or when the day arrives that my life no longer provides (or holds the hope of providing) benefit to myself and(/or) those near and dear to me, it would be better for my genes if I were dead.

Therefore in the right circumstances not only do I believe that suicide can be justified but that it can in fact be a noble undertaking.

The difficulty is judging if that time has arrived! 

[The Magic Pudding]

I don't think jumping out of a burning building is really suicide, not if it's done to avoid certain death.  It may delay death and there's always the chance they'll think of something or be rescued by spider man or the Spaghetti Monster may lower a tendril to them.

[Sandra Craft]

If they're gonna die they better do it, and decrease the surplus population.

Dickens, or Swift?  I'm almost certain its one or the other.

In general I agree that it's up to an adult individual to decide whether or not to end their life early, even if it turns out to be a bad decision.  I'm not happy about that but I do think it is their right.  Kids, that's a different matter.

I would prefer, for those considering suicide from lack of help or hope, that they have better chances of getting those things before turning to a permanent solution for a temporary problem but I realize that even with the best of efforts there's no way of reaching everyone.  It's one of life's cold facts.

As for assisted suicide for health reasons, I think the states that allow this have perfectly acceptable safeguards in place.  As I understand it, you have to get 2 doctors confirming that you're in a rational state of mind, have 6 mos or less to live and absolutely no hope of getting even slightly better.  Far be it from me to force anyone into an increasingly painful 6 mos countdown when they're more than ready to end it now.

As for personal experience, I did make what I suppose could be called a very clumsy and ham-fisted attempt to kill myself at 16.  It's an ordinary enough story -- unpleasant childhood, which I finally got out of at 14 when I was allowed to go live with my Dad.  That improved the circumstances of my life like night to day and I naively assumed that my emotional state should instantly change as well, being too young and inexperienced to know that the emotional stuff takes time.  

Anyway, when, after two years, I was still depressed, having nightmares and all the rest I thought that it was always going to be like this no matter how good my life was on the outside and I just couldn't stand that possibility.  Hence the ham-fisted attempt which my Dad managed to interrupt even tho he wasn't with me at the time; he also watched me like a hawk after that tho we never mentioned the incident.  

I think those are the two things that kept me from trying again: the knowledge that someone actually did care whether I lived or died, and the time needed to finally start feeling better and realise it was possible if not quick.  I wish there were some way to convince everyone feeling hopeless of that, but I think it's one of those things you have to learn the hard way.  And then too, if someone simply doesn't want to wait that long, I don't feel I have the right to interfere with them because I do understand where they're coming from.

[Sweetdeath]

I don't think jumping out of a burning building is really suicide, not if it's done to avoid certain death.  It may delay death and there's always the chance they'll think of something or be rescued by spider man or the Spaghetti Monster may lower a tendril to them.

LOL!
Everybody gets one. XD