Musings>What Is So Tragic About Suicide?

People commit suicide. And it's always tragic to someone. As is death in general. But why? Now, I'll agree: if a teen-ager commits suicide because of pressure on social media or for some other reason, that IS tragic, because their lives end before they've even begun.

But when an old person decides to end it all, what is the big deal? Or someone with terminal cancer? Or somebody who hurts all the time?

OK, you're a Christian and suicide is against your faith. So, don't do it! But the essence of freedom is you don't do it, but you don't bar someone else from doing it. If you think God wants you to suffer every bit possible before you go out anyway, go for it! I won't stop you! But leave me out of it.

One day in May, many years ago, I got a call and they said my mother had one week to live. I was astonished that they could predict that close until I got there and she died after one week. The telltale, I presume, was that she stopped eating. Did she commit suicide?The antithesis of freedom is, I don't do it, so you can't do it either.

More recently (September 2026) somebody in Europe employed a Suicide Pod to end it all. That has a button that floods the compartment with nitrogen. You basically fall asleep and don't wake up. A major newspaper decried it in the strongest terms, suggesting the woman suffocated, which isn't exactly the same as hypoxia. Suggesting a crime had been committed? Why? Newspaper as busybody.

I'd rather that death be a sudden, quick surprise, but if I decide to plan it, I want people to respect my wishes and dignity as an adult, coherent human being.