Suicide and Euthanasia

There are programs to help people quit smoking and drinking. I smoked all my life from 14 years old... many, many years. More than half my life, I went for hypnosis 8 or 9 years ago and stopped immediately. One of the reasons for doing this was I had this annoying little cough, and the last thing I wished was to bark over some basin every morning for the rest of my life.

Same with drinking, although not my problem I have watched friends kill themselves by drinking... a very painful death. They too had many opportunities to stop drinking but didnt preferring to let it get out of hand, so if they did eventually stop they weren't even allowed to toast at a wedding. But then again, an ex boyfriend stopped drinking many years after we broke up because he was an alcoholic. I often worried about him and was delighted to find out he had kicked the habit. Where there's a will there's a way, otherwise its slow suicide.

These two habits are slow suicide, no getting away from it. Okay, 10% will dodge the bullet, the rest of the 90%... they may as well put one in their head right now if they are to allow either of these poisons to become habits.

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Originally Posted by dizzydoll

There are programs to help people quit smoking and drinking ... These two habits are slow suicide, no getting away from it.

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Most smokers and drinkers are not bent on intentionally killing themselves. So, as Hillwalker suggests, these habits are not strictly 'suicidal'. :iagree:

On a similar note, there are other lifestyle choices that could also be considered 'slow suicide' - such as living on junk food, over-consumption of calories in general, couch-potato syndrome, and other forms of drug-taking.....
And in every case the decision to fall into the destructive habit starts off with a bit of 'cognitive distortion' (as detailed in my previous post).

To make matters even worse, advertisers in general play to this weakness. They kid people into thinking that life will be unbearable without their product - be it mouthwash, mineral water, vitamin supplements or probiotic yoghurt for example.

Many medical experts would confirm that all of the above are generally unnecessary under normal conditions and do little to promote healthier living (or oral hygiene for that matter). But the message from the advertisers is so persuasive that many fall for it - telling themselves:

- it's something I don't need, but other people are using it so I'd better try it
- I really can't afford it, but obviously my life will be enriched if I get some for myself
- it's new and exciting, therefore it must be wonderful

It really is a cynical ploy to get people to spend more and more hard-earned cash on frivolities - but of course, that's how the cigarette companies worked their campaigns back in the early days, so none of us should be surprised.....

H

Our soul is not ours .
God gives , God takes .

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Originally Posted by hillwalker

On a similar note, there are other lifestyle choices that could also be considered 'slow suicide' - such as living on junk food, over-consumption of calories in general, couch-potato syndrome, and other forms of drug-taking.....And in every case the decision to fall into the destructive habit starts off with a bit of 'cognitive distortion' (as detailed in my previous post).

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Willy Loman, in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, is a fine example of cognitive distortion. For Willy, suicide becomes an upbeat solution to a shattered life, a way of achieving the American dream, of setting up son Biff for life. Since Willie scarcely seems to understand the nature of suicide - as we learn from wife Linda's final confusion - can we really call his car-accident death a suicide?

Maybe, many a suicide could be better described as the unintended climax of a distorted dream.