Regarding parents committing suicide...

[Mecha Man]

The main reason I still come to this site is because it gives me great comfort to be around people who support the notion that you have the right to take your own life. It makes me feel like I can talk about anything and not be judged negatively. But recently I've noticed there is a big issue that keeps coming up again and again about whether it's ok for parents to commit suicide.

I understand the devastation that can be caused by losing a parent as a child, it's truly a horrid tragedy with potentially lifelong devastating effects. However, I was under the impression that while this is a pro-choice site, its main function is to act as support for people who want to kill themselves. I've been greatly disturbed of late by increasingly hostile comments towards individuals who want to kill themselves who have children.... because they have children

I can understand people feeling sickened by the notion of a child being orphaned because their parent committed suicide, but this site is not here to push someone against killing themselves if that's what they really want to do.... it's here to support them and make them feel like it's ok. I am not a parent, but this is an important issue to me because it's this feeling that I have a support system, a place I can go to to talk about it, when I finally do decide I want to ctb, that gives me great comfort. THIS is the only place I can go to talk about it. When people start saying it's not okay to ctb, I start to lose that sense of comfort, and I start to feel like my support system has weakened.

I understand that this is a touchy issue for a lot of people, but I think the most important thing to understand is that we all have different opinions, and have to respect them, and we have to respect the decisions other people make, even if we don't agree with them. If you think it's morally wrong for someone to ctb, I don't think you should be making posts about it, because that goes against this site's whole philosophy. Although I can still tolerate it, as long as in the end you at the very least RESPECT people's decisions to ctb. That's what I think is the most important thing. Respect, and tolerance.

 

[Rex]

I know this is a sensitive issue for both sides, so PSA; can I just remind people to respect differing opinions to avoid the thread being locked like the last one resorted in being. No personal attacks, no exceptions. Thank you.

 

[Mecha Man]

I know this is a sensitive issue for both sides, so PSA; can I just remind people to respect differing opinions to avoid the thread being locked like the last on resorted in being. No personal attacks, no exceptions. Thank you.

I thought I was the one making a PSA... I didn't really expect it to turn into a big debate. I guess I am very naive. Well, no. I know I am, haha... ;_;

 

[lv-gras]

ty for making this, seems a good thought to get some of the intense discussion of the subject off of someone's personal post.

 

[Mecha Man]

ty for making this, seems a good thought to get some of the intense discussion of the subject off of someone's personal post.

Well I just posted it because it affected me in a strong way, personally. This site is like a safe haven for me. I can't talk to anyone else in the whole world about suicidal thoughts or feelings. I can't talk to my family, my psychiatrist, and I don't even have any friends. So to me it feels important to maintain this feeling of safeness here. This is my safe haven if I ever feel suicidal, or even when I don't feel suicidal.

 

[Laggy]

I completely understand the opinion that parents have a responsibility to stick around and take care of their children. I share that opinion, even though I am a suicidal mother myself. People just need to understand that parents don't just commit suicide because they want to or because they don't care about their responsibilities or because they don't think about how it will effect their kids. We are very aware of these things, we fight as hard as we can to stay for our kids, and suicide is a last resort.

In the last thread, Smilla asked me why I had kids. At the time I chose to start a family, I was not suicidal. I did not even believe I was depressed (looking back, I may have just been in denial). Although my husband and I both had some hereditary conditions in our families that we did not want to pass on to our children, we believed that expanding our family would be a beautiful thing and worth the risk. Obviously now that I know I will probably abandon my children sooner or later, I've decided to actively prevent having any more. At this point in my life I wish I had never gotten married and had kids, because it will tear them apart when I die. But I can't change the past.

 

[Comatose11]

I agree. I can see both points of view and people. With that said, being a jerk won't make anyone change their mind. Harrassing someone won't make them want to live.