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The Forum > Article Comments > Suicide can be an exercise of one's sovereignty > Comments

Suicide can be an exercise of one's sovereignty : Comments

By Colin Tatz, published 26/7/2010

Even the most rejected and desperate individual still has one little domain of sovereignty: his or her physical being.

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If a person decides after deliberation that she or he wishes to end life I see no reason why that person shouldn't regardless of age as long as they don't do it in such a way that they put others in danger. eg. One shouldn't jump out of a building where there is a possibility of landing on someone else.
Posted by david f, Monday, 26 July 2010 6:27:41 PM
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Suicide 'is' the only sovereignty left to man.

No sovereign can tax it.
Posted by skeptic, Monday, 26 July 2010 6:38:36 PM
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Oi this is bleak stuff.

It seems to me that the concept that suicide is preventable arises from two ideas:

1. Where there is life there is hope (of improving the situation that makes living undesirable).
2. That people might resort to suicide without having tried all possible alternatives to solve immediate problems.

Having dealt with many, many suicidal people, I haven't yet met one person (touch wood) who hasn't been grateful for being pulled out of that mind set of being at the last resort.

Problems and hurts that seemed insurmountable when one was trying to manage alone; have resolved - life has gone on. One bloke described going to the darkest place and coming out of it as a 'cleansing'. Once the risk of suicide had been stalled he thought well, having nearly lost his life, bankruptcy wasn't that big a deal. Instead of giving up to it, he pitched in and sold everything; simplified his commitments and the best thing was his discovery that his family preferred to have him alive and with them than to have whatever financial relief he'd thought that suicide would accomplish. He said that he had learned different priorities about what in life was valuable.

As to young people suiciding; it IS tragic. They haven't lived enough to know all the ways that problems and hurts can be solved and it's such a tragic waste of whatever happiness might have been ahead for them. It's a loss to society of all that they were and could have been. It's a source of endless grief to anyone who loses someone in an untimely manner; especially as those left behind agonize over all the shoulds, coulds, wished.

Sorry, but in my book, we should do all that we can to give people hope. People can get past the desire to exercise 'sovereignty' by giving it up, and go on to experiencing life in different and better ways. The least helpful attitude that we can adopt is one that suggests that nobody cares.
Posted by Pynchme, Monday, 26 July 2010 9:47:21 PM
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You cant give a person hope where there is no hope,where the only reality is endless and unquenchable pain and despair. When the prospect of a tomorrow is the most dreaded prospect to face. The only way out of it is to put an end to what is only an on-going sentence of a living death. Why not summon the relief that waits for you within arm's reach.
It would be an act of mercy when all life offers is unbearable pain and despair.

Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday
why worry about them when the present can be so sweet a sleep.
(Apologies to Omar Khyaam)
Posted by socratease, Monday, 26 July 2010 10:22:55 PM
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If we are to adhere firmly to sazaszkian theory of mental illness;

then there is no such malady as mental illness. (your article

indicates those tendencies). “to be strange is normal and not

mental”: Likewise, to choose suicide as an exploratory option to

life, under such theory, would be a normal event.

What your article appears to conclude is suicide as a sad event for

many, but also a traditional human destiny at times. I agree with

that position. A thoughtful article.
Posted by diver dan, Monday, 26 July 2010 10:29:56 PM
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War kills many who would rather live. Often war is caused by an inequitable distribution of resources. There are many other causes we might address. I think it more reasonable to concern ourselves with saving the lives of those who want to live rather than those who don't want to.
Posted by david f, Monday, 26 July 2010 10:32:35 PM
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