![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marko_the_rat and i found this... Gotta post it...
Apr. 15th, 2004 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ristinAs ordered, stolen from tygercowboy
Fromlonerpack's journal
Suicide: The Permanent Solution To A Temporary Problem
Ask the 25-year-old who tried to electrocute himself. He lived. But both his arms are gone.
What about jumping? Ask John. He used to be intelligent, with an engaging sense of humor. That was before he leapt from a building. Now, he's brain-damaged and will always need care. He staggers and has seizures. He lives in a fog. But, worst of all, he KNOWS he used to be normal.
What about pills? Ask the 12-year-old with extensive liver damage from an overdose. Have you ever seen anyone die of liver damage? You turn yellow. It's a hard way to go.
What about a gun? Ask the 24-year-old who shot himself in the head. Now he drags one leg, has a useless arm and has no vision or hearing on one side. He lived through his "foolproof" suicide. You might too.
But... Who will clean your blood off the carpet or scrape your brains from the ceiling? Commercial cleaning companies may refuse that job--but SOMEONE has to do it.
Who will have to cut you down from where you hung yourself or identify your bloated body after you've drowned? Your father? Your mother? Your wife? Your son?
The carefully worded "loving" suicide note is of no help. Those who loved you will NEVER completely recover. They'll feel regret and an unending pain.
Suicide is contagious. Look around your family. Look closely at the 4 year old playing with his cars on the rug. Kill yourself tonight, and he may do it ten years from now.
You DO have other choices. There are people who can help you through this crisis. Call a hotline. Call a friend. Call your minister or priest. Call a doctor or hospital. Call the police. They will tell you that there's hope. Maybe you'll find it in the mail tomorrow. Or in a phone call this weekend. But what you're seeking could be just a minute, a month, or a day away.
You say you don't want to be stopped? Still want to do it? -Well, then, I may see you in the psychiatric ward later. And we'll work with whatever you have left.
Remember: Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLEASE STEAL IT AND PUT IT IN YOUR JOURNAL, TOO.
tygercowboyFrom
lonerpack's journalSuicide: The Permanent Solution To A Temporary Problem
Ask the 25-year-old who tried to electrocute himself. He lived. But both his arms are gone.
What about jumping? Ask John. He used to be intelligent, with an engaging sense of humor. That was before he leapt from a building. Now, he's brain-damaged and will always need care. He staggers and has seizures. He lives in a fog. But, worst of all, he KNOWS he used to be normal.
What about pills? Ask the 12-year-old with extensive liver damage from an overdose. Have you ever seen anyone die of liver damage? You turn yellow. It's a hard way to go.
What about a gun? Ask the 24-year-old who shot himself in the head. Now he drags one leg, has a useless arm and has no vision or hearing on one side. He lived through his "foolproof" suicide. You might too.
But... Who will clean your blood off the carpet or scrape your brains from the ceiling? Commercial cleaning companies may refuse that job--but SOMEONE has to do it.
Who will have to cut you down from where you hung yourself or identify your bloated body after you've drowned? Your father? Your mother? Your wife? Your son?
The carefully worded "loving" suicide note is of no help. Those who loved you will NEVER completely recover. They'll feel regret and an unending pain.
Suicide is contagious. Look around your family. Look closely at the 4 year old playing with his cars on the rug. Kill yourself tonight, and he may do it ten years from now.
You DO have other choices. There are people who can help you through this crisis. Call a hotline. Call a friend. Call your minister or priest. Call a doctor or hospital. Call the police. They will tell you that there's hope. Maybe you'll find it in the mail tomorrow. Or in a phone call this weekend. But what you're seeking could be just a minute, a month, or a day away.
You say you don't want to be stopped? Still want to do it? -Well, then, I may see you in the psychiatric ward later. And we'll work with whatever you have left.
Remember: Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLEASE STEAL IT AND PUT IT IN YOUR JOURNAL, TOO.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-04-18 09:37 pm (UTC)You believe that the physical intervention to stop your brother committing suicide was an acceptable course of action.
No, I didnt say that. You assumed that. On the contrary, I was, and to this day do am unsupportive of what was done to my brother. I am happy that he is alive. I am not happy about the way in which he was made to be alive. I am upset that physical coercion rather than my personal love and the love of others was what kept him alive.
You believe the person committing suicide should be held responsible for the pain and suffering of those left behind.
I believe they should hold themselves responsible. Wether they do that is entirely their choice. I dont suggest this should be done through guilt tripping, or any other means, particularly with a person considering suicide. In all likelyhood, doing such thing would have the inverse of the intended effect. I think the person should be shown love and compassion, in the hopes that they will choose, of their own volition to live, because they perhaps will realize what there is to live for
The words ethical and unethical carry tremendous power, and can have phenomenal ramifications, which I'm not sure if you fully grasp.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that has no religious conotation. Moral is a religious word. Healthy/ill is a trickier linguistic problem because it frequently that was is currently the standard is healthy, and particularly in the past, this could be based on poor scientific reasoning. I think what is dangerous is to say "that person is ill because they are different." What isn't dangerous to me is to say "I think that person is ill. Here is the line of reasoning as to why I believe this person to be mentally ill."
Coercion means to restrain or dominate by elliminating individual will, or to enforce or bring about by force or threat. I never suggested any of those should be done. If me holding an opinion about ethics based on a line of reasoning is coercion, then holding an opinion of any kind is coercion. I think what you are afraid of is people enforcing ethics. If I were arguing for the enforcment of any of the ethics I argued, then I could completely understand you being upset and your argument against that would be basically valid in that context. However, that really was never my point, and I don't think the two should be conflated. I never did anything other than state my opinion on the matter, which never including physically or mentally forcing anyone to do anything. I do think the choice has ethical implications. You may not believe suicide is unethical, but you must certainly beleive there is such a thing as unethical behavior. I have no problem with you beliveing anything is unethical, though I may find the reasoning to be problematic in one case or another. If you started enforcing your ethics, and I found the enforcment was merely to advance an ethical outlook that was based more clearly on some religious reasoning or something, then I would have a problem with that. I dont have a problem with you thinking about the world differently than me, and you forming your ethical system on a different basis than me. If your ethical reasoning lead you to shoot an innocent person for some reason (which I know it would'nt), that would be a point of issue. Does this distinction between holding an ethical position and enforcing ethics make sense?