Posted by madeline on October 26, 2006, at 13:40:45
In reply to New with an interesting question, posted by LJRen on October 22, 2006, at 1:19:38
You're post is interesting. I think a lot of us here struggle with suicide, it's always kind of there -just hanging out as an option, not necessarily a valid one, but an option nonetheless.
I think suicide is a very bad, very selfish thing to do for a lot of reasons:
1. We don't live in a vacuum. None of us can ever really know what impact our lives have on others. Ever. Even to strangers. A particular look, a thoughtful gesture in the supermarket, a smile -whatever, can sometimes set in motion a series of events that totally alter the course of another human life. We are totally interconnected with each other. The loss of one with the concommitant loss of that smile, that gesture impacts us all. Think of all the times a stranger has "touched" you. We have to live our lives, but to me, they are very much not all about us.
2. You can never, ever know what tomorrow might bring. Tomorrow the sun might hit you in a particular way, or you might get cracked up and have a belly laugh or you may win the lottery or something else good (or bad). To me suicide is the ultimate in saying "I don't care what might happen tomorrow". There might be a scientific breakthrough next week that is just the thing to free you from pain. But guess what? You missed it.
3. Your suffering has meaning. Big time. Even if you have to give it meaning yourself. Just today, by sharing your suffering with me, you have made me think, made me clarify why I love to be alive - what it means for me to truly live. Your suffering did that for me. It has meaning. It affects change. It is NOT for nothing. If we live in total darkness, just imagine how sensitive we become to the light? How beautiful it can be.
I guess what I'm trying to give voice to is hope and how suicide robs people of that hope.
Just my thought. Welcome to babble. I'm glad you dropped by.
Maddie
poster:madeline
thread:697835
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061018/msgs/697931.html