"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
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"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

And he wouldn't cold-cock the guy trying to get out of the plane?
Steven is slipping.


It's his life, if he truly wants to end it that is his right.

Agreed...vehemently. (Though the points made about falling hazards, etc.,
are quite legitimate. His life is his own, but go quietly into that long
good-night..)

Baloney. No one's life is their own, nor is anyone an island to themselves.
No one can commit suicide without adversely affecting the lives of many
others. (Well, maybe Saddam Hussein could.)

People who wish to kill themselves rarely, perhaps never, stay that way for
long. Those who are stopped are invariably thankful that someone intervened.
A better approach is counseling and help with their problems. Suicide is
always dangerous to others. People are stuck with the chore of cleaning up
afterwards. Everyone has to pay the costs of medical care for botched
suicide attempts, which far outnumber successful suicides. Many would-be
suicides end up permanently disabled, adding a further burden to taxpayers
and insurance payers, often for decades.

Family members and friends are invariably traumatized by the event.
Marriages are broken up and children are raised without parents. The
children of suicides are far more likely to commit suicide themselves when
they get older. Their grades suffer and they become less productive as
adults. Fortunes are wasted on counseling. Many turn to drugs, with
corresponding effects on crime, society, and the economy.

Killing yourself does not make your problems go away. It just transfers them
to someone else. It may come as a shock to you, but most people think it is
better to deal with problems rather than run away from them. The vast
majority of people, even those with terrible, terminal diseases, manage to
get by from day to day and even do something productive. It is an insult to
these brave individuals to suggest that killing yourself might be a better
alternative.

Letting some guy who is drunk, disoriented, or distressed kill himself
'because it his right' is a gross disservice to both the individual and the
community around him.