Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Is Suicide Honorable?

It's time we asked the question: could suicide be an honorable choice?

I'm very sensitive to this issue. I've faced taking my own life. A close friend of mine took his own life. I've felt the hurt and failure not being able to intervene. I've watched people around me suffer the inexplicable loss of a loved one and I've suffered right along with them. I've felt the loneliness and isolation and desperation that comes at the end of one's rope. I've rationalized and cogitated and gone nuts trying to explain/understand/empathize and I still come up with nothing.

Is it possible that taking one's own life is a reasonable choice? When it becomes impossible to live with yourself and hope is gone, suicide seems like a good option. I know. It's not a cop out nor is it an excuse. The tragedy happens only to those left behind. I know that too: I was left behind.

When you're in the place of ending your own life, anyone who offers an end to the tunnel could be just a false hope. If your resolve is strong enough, you jump off the bridge anyway. If you respond and don't jump, it means the human connection is bigger than the disconnection from all humanity forever. There's honor in that, too.

This is the ultimate paradox: life and death can co-exist and both could be paths of honor.

I don't have the answer.

But it's time we discussed the question.