Posted by Zo on July 4, 2002, at 6:45:30
In reply to Re: Memorial (Re: sar thread)- a rebuke of sorts » JonW, posted by wendy b. on June 26, 2002, at 0:32:04
Wendy,again, I admire your passionate energy, but you must be aware that your thoughts about the matter are informed by your emotional and mental energy, and so they are very far away from the thoughts one has at suicidal times.> I absolutely HATE that term: suicide "contagion"! Like it's leprosy or something. Suicide isn't a skin disease, or HIV, or herpes! It isn't "catching"!
I understand where you're coming from, and it healthy. . but as such, it's nearly irrelevant. Long ago, a friend shot himself over Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction, an illness we shared. . .and I was so scared, because he opened up my dialogue with death, it's a slippery slope, and in this way contagious..
>Such actions may contribute to suicide contagion by suggesting to susceptible persons that society is honoring the suicidal behavior of the deceased person,
That's too Idea. No one is thinking about abstracts and ideas at such times, and certainly not so simplistically. The thinking doesn't happen in a normal mind. It is a whole nother state. And ideas about suicide--anything outside oneself at all--might as well not exist.
> Again: "suicide contagion" (sic).
> OK, it MAY suggest to people who are susceptible that it's honoring the person, and it may NOT. One idea on that subject is as valid as anotherYes, but in one idea, a person may dies.
>Are their INTERESTS more important? What about the interests of the people who are grieving Sar's death? Don't our feelings and thoughts on the matter count too? Not more than anyone else's, but not less either.
Yes, less. Less is appropriate. .. just as one would be mindful of not putting up the diagrams of knots, or leave pieces of rope lying around. . giving up a bit of what is of interest to oneself in favor of more important matters. In favor of the well-being of someone who is, we recognize, at the bottom of existence. This is just what one does.
> But remembering and honoring the person could never be harmful to the P-Babble community, if it's handled with care and thoughtfulness.
Of course you are right.
> Lastly, I'd like to mention is that Sar didn't believe commiting suicide was a crime or a horrible act; she said that she felt it was a right that shouldn't be taken away from us. Who's to say that a person in terrible emotional pain might not be better off gone?An interesting but rather advanced idea. We're talking about lurkers, readers, visitors. To avoid any hint of glamour, do you suppose that might do the trick?
Zo
poster:Zo
thread:5764
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020627/msgs/5973.html