by Brianne Chohrach

Created on: February 18, 2009

Is suicide a personal right? Not by any means. Did we each have the choice to be born? Was life a right given to us? No, it was a gift. A gift from God. The right for us to live or die is in his hands and we are severely selfish to think otherwise.

Someone who is at the verge of suicide is not someone who is thinking clearly. They are someone who is lost, confused, depressed and not in any place to make judgement calls. They are, in fact, thinking selfishly.

To take your own life does not put an end to the misery and suffering. It only transfers it to another person. It transfers it onto the loved one. A person who is even contemplating suicide is someone that needs help desperately. Someone, who when healthy and thinking rationally, would probably not choose to strip themselves of life. They would not choose to cause pain, suffering, and agony onto those who love them and wish to see them well.

I am disgusted that in my state assisted suicide has become legal. There are cases when people are told they are going to die and in fact they do not. They live long and full lives. What if that is the case with the person who chooses to have their life disposed of instead of living out their final days? And, the most horrific part of it all is that the family does not have to be informed of the person's decision to kill themselves. The doctor's are just given the go ahead and the deed is done. That is not right. That person stole precious time for not only themselves, but for the ones that are now left behind.

I do not believe that suicide is a personal right. If it were so, then why is attempted suicide against the law? It is a punishable offense. If the police hear of someone attempting suicide, they go to intervene. People step in to stop them. If it were that person's right to off themselves, then why wouldn't everyone just back off and watch it happen? Why have we created laws against it?

Is murder a personal right? I may sound extreme, but I do not see it as being any different. Sin is sin and wrong is wrong. Black and white. Murder is taking someones life without their consent. Suicide should be looked at that way. Someone that takes their own life is not in their right mind, and more than likely, not themselves anyways. The person that takes their life is, in essence, taking the life of another. Someone who would not wish to die.

It is selfish. Plain and simple. It is morally wrong to take something, that in reality, does not belong to you in the first place. It is irreparable and final. It is not something to be played around with and we should not just cast it aside as being someone's "right". It makes me sick.

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