I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I still wanted to share my thoughts on this topic. They've been on my mind for a while, but now that I've found this forum I finally have an outlet to share them. I would love to read other people's thoughts as well.
Most people understand that abstinence-only education is a bad idea. This is because, teenagers being teenagers, they will most likely wind up having sex anyway, and if they don't know anything about contraception and reproductive biology, the result is going to be unwanted pregnancies and STDs. This is why sex education is so important. Not because we want to encourage teenagers to have sex, but because they will anyway.
Now, suicide. We, as a society, would prefer if people didn't kill themselves. However, we should understand that some people are going to do so no matter what. And for those who are going to do it, we don't want them jumping in front of a moving train and traumatizing the driver, or blowing their own brains out and traumatizing whoever walks into the room afterward, etc. We want them to be able to have a peaceful suicide that inflicts the least amount of trauma possible on other people. Not because we want to encourage people to kill themselves, but because they will anyway.
Why are we able to understand this when the topic is sex education, and not when the topic is suicide?
And I haven't even broached the subject of body autonomy and human dignity yet. But I will, right now.
Some people will say "we should keep people from committing suicide because so many people who have attempted it and failed are glad they're alive now".
Let's think about a hypothetical scenario. What if a grown adult had wanted to go on a boat ride one day, but their friend had locked them in a room against their consent all day, thus keeping them from going on said boat ride. And what if the next day they both found out that the boat this person had wanted to go on had accidentally sunk and all the passengers aboard were now dead? Well, the person might then be glad their friend kept them locked in a room that day, but the friend was still wrong to do so.
Same thing with suicide. It could be that the person would have appreciated having been saved many years down the line. Doesn't matter. Forcefully "saving" someone who is obviously attempting to die seems highly immoral to me. And in many cases, the person will wind up alive and with permanent damage that will make their life even worse than it already was (and if they live in the US, medical bills). We aren't in their head. We don't know what they're going through. Who are we to judge? We cannot. We generally let adults make their own decisions, and being suicidal is not in itself a sign that someone is unable to make their own decisions. There is no need to patronize suicidal people, or "save" them.
But if you really want to save suicidal people, here is what you gotta do:
Make their life not suck. Address the root cause of the issue.
There.
But you know what people do instead? They neglect you, they treat you like shit, they put you on waiting lists and you have to wait years and years to get significant help of any kind. You get exploited, you get trapped in a job you hate, you get trapped doing things you hate in the one life you have. And if you don't like it, they call you lazy, a burden, a drain on the system.
You know what would make me not suicidal? Being able to live in an apartment that doesn't suck without having to work at a shitty job to be able to afford it, having better access to mental health services, receiving support from my family instead of "you're lazy, your problems aren't real", being able to see a good psychiatrist regularly so I could get my meds figured out, and on, and on…
Because otherwise, what's the point? You save someone from suicide. Ok, cool. They're alive for two more weeks. Their life situation doesn't change. They attempt suicide again pretty soon after. You haven't saved them. You've merely prolonged their suffering for absolutely no reason.
It fucking kills me (pun intended) that there is a drug out there that exists that is capable of letting people die peacefully and without pain, but that access to it is highly restricted.
Why?
Because then the rate of suicide will increase? Well, if that's the case, the solution isn't to take away the drug. The solution is to address the root causes that are making people suicidal in the first place.
Again, people will kill themselves. That is a thing that will happen. Would you rather they do it in a way that is highly painful and traumatizing to potential bystanders, or would you rather they be able to easily obtain a drug that helps them have a peaceful suicide without traumatizing any train drivers?
Most people understand that abstinence-only education is a bad idea. This is because, teenagers being teenagers, they will most likely wind up having sex anyway, and if they don't know anything about contraception and reproductive biology, the result is going to be unwanted pregnancies and STDs. This is why sex education is so important. Not because we want to encourage teenagers to have sex, but because they will anyway.
Now, suicide. We, as a society, would prefer if people didn't kill themselves. However, we should understand that some people are going to do so no matter what. And for those who are going to do it, we don't want them jumping in front of a moving train and traumatizing the driver, or blowing their own brains out and traumatizing whoever walks into the room afterward, etc. We want them to be able to have a peaceful suicide that inflicts the least amount of trauma possible on other people. Not because we want to encourage people to kill themselves, but because they will anyway.
Why are we able to understand this when the topic is sex education, and not when the topic is suicide?
And I haven't even broached the subject of body autonomy and human dignity yet. But I will, right now.
Some people will say "we should keep people from committing suicide because so many people who have attempted it and failed are glad they're alive now".
Let's think about a hypothetical scenario. What if a grown adult had wanted to go on a boat ride one day, but their friend had locked them in a room against their consent all day, thus keeping them from going on said boat ride. And what if the next day they both found out that the boat this person had wanted to go on had accidentally sunk and all the passengers aboard were now dead? Well, the person might then be glad their friend kept them locked in a room that day, but the friend was still wrong to do so.
Same thing with suicide. It could be that the person would have appreciated having been saved many years down the line. Doesn't matter. Forcefully "saving" someone who is obviously attempting to die seems highly immoral to me. And in many cases, the person will wind up alive and with permanent damage that will make their life even worse than it already was (and if they live in the US, medical bills). We aren't in their head. We don't know what they're going through. Who are we to judge? We cannot. We generally let adults make their own decisions, and being suicidal is not in itself a sign that someone is unable to make their own decisions. There is no need to patronize suicidal people, or "save" them.
But if you really want to save suicidal people, here is what you gotta do:
Make their life not suck. Address the root cause of the issue.
There.
But you know what people do instead? They neglect you, they treat you like shit, they put you on waiting lists and you have to wait years and years to get significant help of any kind. You get exploited, you get trapped in a job you hate, you get trapped doing things you hate in the one life you have. And if you don't like it, they call you lazy, a burden, a drain on the system.
You know what would make me not suicidal? Being able to live in an apartment that doesn't suck without having to work at a shitty job to be able to afford it, having better access to mental health services, receiving support from my family instead of "you're lazy, your problems aren't real", being able to see a good psychiatrist regularly so I could get my meds figured out, and on, and on…
Because otherwise, what's the point? You save someone from suicide. Ok, cool. They're alive for two more weeks. Their life situation doesn't change. They attempt suicide again pretty soon after. You haven't saved them. You've merely prolonged their suffering for absolutely no reason.
It fucking kills me (pun intended) that there is a drug out there that exists that is capable of letting people die peacefully and without pain, but that access to it is highly restricted.
Why?
Because then the rate of suicide will increase? Well, if that's the case, the solution isn't to take away the drug. The solution is to address the root causes that are making people suicidal in the first place.
Again, people will kill themselves. That is a thing that will happen. Would you rather they do it in a way that is highly painful and traumatizing to potential bystanders, or would you rather they be able to easily obtain a drug that helps them have a peaceful suicide without traumatizing any train drivers?
