by Jenny Tolley

Created on: July 15, 2010

I believe that every person has the right to self-determination, as long as their self-determination does not violate the rights of another person.  Society can tell a person that he or she does not have the right to commit suicide.  The truth of the matter is, if someone is determined to die, they will find a way to carry out that action.  If a person succeeds in committing suicide, what can we do to punish them for violating a right?  The answer is nothing.  

I do understand that the topic of suicide is a very emotional and controversial one for a lot of people.  Even if everyone close to you is happy and productive, it can be very distressing to sit down and think rationally about someone you love making the choice to end their life.  Many people think a person who is suicidal must be "crazy" or not thinking clearly.  And it's true that people who want to kill themselves typically suffer from depression or some other kind of mental or emotional problem.  However, if you consider the way suicide is viewed in other cultures, you might see that you don't have to be mentally ill to commit suicide.

In some Islamic countries, people strap bombs to themselves and walk into open air markets.  When they blow themselves up, they take other people with them.  Were they depressed when they made the decision to kill themselves?  Not likely.  They may have been promised a better life in the next world.  Maybe someone offered to pay their family if they became a "suicide bomber" for the "greater good".  Perhaps they just want to be viewed as honorable for making the ultimate sacrifice. 

During World War II Japanese Kamikaze pilots were looked upon as heroes for purposely crashing their aircraft into Allied ships.  Their actions were certainly suicidal, since the planes they used were full of explosives.  And yet, to many of their countrymen, Kamikaze pilots were honorable when they killed themselves.  Again, their suicides were okay because they were committed for what some people perceive as the "greater good".  But the end result was the same.  They committed suicide.

The sad fact of the matter is, many people are fairly apathetic about their fellow man.  They may have a fundamental aversion to suicide based on their religious faith or respect for the law.  But unless suicide touches them personally, most people don't give a passing thought to the person who decides to end their own life for whatever reason.  And for that reason, I think suicide must be a personal right, because we don't do much to convince them that they should keep living.  We only take notice of them when they make the attempt and fail.  We subject them to shame and forced hospitalization.  We tell them they "had no right" when fundamentally, they do.  Anyone who is determined to kill themselves will find a way to do it, and once they've done it, there's nothing anyone else can do about it.                 

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