For the duration of this post I am declaring my blog an emotion free zone. This is because the idea of suicide is generally met with an automatic and severe emotional response, which I have been thinking about since the recent news of two entire families dying of apparent “murder-suicide” events in which the husband takes out his wife and children, and finally himself.
Most people are reacting to this in horror, as is well warranted I suppose. However, I question the typical connotations surrounding an individual’s decision to… be done, as it were. The recent events I am talking about are not proven to be what I am terming economicide, which could be classified as a family’s failure to make ends meet, with little hope for the future, and the desire to be free of such a huge burden. But they seem to be. Furthermore, this desire to be free of such burdens conflicts with the desire to remain a family, ultimately leading to the conclusion that you could all be together in death.
Now, to be clear, I don’t personally see myself as able to turn a gun on my own children, but it’s important, I think, when it comes to humans, to leave an exception for every possiblity. So, let’s take this from the ant farm perspective:
what is so upsetting and wrong about suicide? Why does it send a resounding bolt of fear throughout all fragments of society? True, upon hearing of the suicide of any person I know I immediately feel shocked, sad… but for what? Someone wasn’t having a good go at it and decided to call it a day. Sometimes trying to finish a marathon can kill you in the process, but then it’s declared valorous.
Objectively, if a person finds this existence to be either too painful or too tedious, shouldn’t they have the right to snuff it?
I think so. I’d like to think that I could hasten my own exit without devastating my friends and family emotionally, but maybe that leads us to my final thought: the art of suicide-noting. If properly executed, I think the suicide note could be the perfect thing to take the edge off the situation. If I were to convincingly and accurately state my case for leaving, all the while making it perfectly clear that my departure was not in sadness, necessarily, or that a lingering sadness would just be unfit for the situation, shouldn’t that be enough to say “ok, he knew what he was doing, made a clear decision and acted upon.”
No, somehow it doesn’t flush.
But anyway, food for thought.
