Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : The Boxing Ring Revived -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: one_less who wrote (4383)	2/13/2003 7:45:30 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7720

It IS a personal topic! And a hard one. And I don't want someone telling us that we HAVE to end it at a certain point either- I don't want to allow anyone into the decision making process on the other end! (Pull the plug on the old biddy) I just want it to me my decision, I guess. And I am very glad to read your views. And Neo's, even when they hit me emotionally wrong, I know they are based on reasoning that will be explained to me and that I can accept as having validity, Even if not for me :) The tribal elder story is a gentle one... it has a sort of natural appeal. (Although it also reminds me of- is it the Indians?- who send their useless elderly out into the snowy woods to die.) I see it as the same suicidal decision- just lower tech. Walking into the wilderness isn't exactly an option for most of us. The decision is still made to seek death-- it's just a slower form of suicide. Nowadays, we would forcefeed the poor tribal elder with an IV. Is the lack of a ping because there is a less definite moment? A sort of- well, if God doesn't want me to die, he will send food and a warm blanket? So it isn't really my choice? "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" Funny-- I have used that phrase with my own boys. Again I don't see this type of suicide as just avoiding a little unpleasantness, but of taking control over one's final days. Have hundreds really availed themselves of this in Sweden? What about in Oregon? I think most of us cling to life, often against any hope. I would have guessed that not many have the courage to actually commit suicide and harbor hopes of recovery. I talked with both my parents at length about these things during their dying. I know I am going to live forever, and never die. Aren't you? Don't knock pretty songs~ They can bring a great deal of comfort. When my mother was dying, one of her favorite tapes was of a recital I gave. I had to listen to myself sing Pie Jesu and Mozart's Alleluia a lot. It was very disconcerting. Lest you think I got a swelled head, I should tell you her very FAVORITE tape was Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone Stories.

To: one_less who wrote (4383)	2/14/2003 7:54:33 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7720

I see a difference in that kind of departure and asking someone to give you a treatment that you can use to cause death. What is the difference between your tribal elder being bid farewell as he leaves for his cave and someone being provided a prescription for a fatal dose of something painless? The first is OK but the second isn't? In both cases the parties are facilitating the suicide. Yes, the latter is somewhat more deliberate than the former, but both give society's stamp of approval on the suicide. From a compassion perspective, dying from a bunch of pills sure beats starving to death in a cave.