Our society has become extremely indulgent about suicide. So much so that, having decriminalised the personal act (or attempt) some decades ago, we are now debating whether to legalise assisting others to commit suicide. Since an overwhelming majority of people appear to want assisting suicide to be illegal, I presume that what I shall now say will be somewhat unpopular. But it seems to me that the defenders of suicide get far too clear a run. No-one ever flat-out opposes them, so few people even understand that there might be another point of view.
I'll divide my remarks. First, I shall argue that suicide is one of the most wicked and self-indulgent things it is possible to do. Next I shall argue that legalising the assisting of people to commit suicide would not merely encourage the potential suicide in her wickedness, but would also lead to pressure (some of it non-deliberate) for vulnerable people to commit suicide.
Let's begin with the suicide itself. It seems terribly harsh to say that suicide is wicked, because of course those who commit suicide are very often in desperate positions - desperately unhappy; desperately sick; desperate financial straits; desperately worried about being exposed for their misdoings. We want to feel sorry for the suicide, not condemn her. But of course to condemn is not to dislike; it is to help. If we can convince people that suicide is wicked then there will be fewer suicides. Such convincing needs to happen early, and at a general level - it is unlikely to be nearly so effective if one waits until the person already considers herself worthless and her life not worth living.
Let's consider a few of those the suicide betrays by her monumenal act of selfishness:
- Those who love her and wish for her continued presence
- Those who need her, even if only for a few months more
- Those who through her death miss out on the opportunity to engage in works of benevolence towards her, helping her through tough times
- Herself, through failing to grow in courage, fortitude, long-suffering, cheerfulness, patience, humility and the many other virtues that can be fostered and manifested in unpleasant times
- Those who might benefit from her good example in overcoming her situation
- God, who made her and whose right, alone, it is to call her home
The condoning of suicide is the ultimate declaration of societal atomism. It declares that we own our own lives and can dispose of them as and how we choose. But it is not true. We do not belong to ourselves. We are the creations of God and our parents and our society and of peace and health and harvest and shelter and all the efforts of those that went before us that made our very lives possible. And even beyond our genesis, we do not belong to ourselves. We are bound to others, through bonds of duty and love and servanthood and discipleship. Our lives have consequences for those around us, and our deaths have consequences, also. Our end is not a matter for us alone.
Furthermore, the suicide shows a monumental lack of gratitude. For the wonders of life are so diverse and extraordinary, that for me to consider my life so worthless that I seek its end manifests an incredible lack of perspective. For even if I have a little less money than I did, or have been betrayed by my wife yet again, or am in chronic pain, or am always lonely, the sunsets are still golden, the whale still makes his amazing call, the kingfisher still flutters, the hubble still shows gas nebulae in astonishing vivacity, the baby still gurgles at his mother, the father is still proud at his daughter's graduation, the sophisticated play is still clever, the cricket match is still both elegant and thrilling. Who and what do you think you are, that it is up to you to decide that this is all worthless and should end? Have some humility; show some gratitude; take your life as long as you are privileged enough to have it; and live it well.
As for those that would assist others in their self-indulgent, arrogant ingratitude... Of course, we all understand the pity, the desire to minimize suffering, the pressure to do something, anything, to help. But if the act itself is wicked (and it is), then assisting others in their moment of moral weakness, helping them over the hurdle of practical challenge that may be all that protects them from themselves, is doubly wicked and must not be permitted. To assist a suicide is to contribute to a death; it is not in any interesting sense morally different from causing the death oneself. And of course once we decide that assiting suicide should be legal, we will rapidly face even more pressure to legalise euthanasia - murder through pity.
Worse than that, once assisting suicide is legal, people will start to ask others whether they would like such assistance, and subtle pressures will arise on the elderly and the sick to accept their end quickly and painlessly and with the minimum of fuss to those around them, rather than to embrace suffering for themselves and for their loved ones as an opportunity for moral improvement.
For we have become so morally flaccid that we often imagine suffering as in all ways evil. And this is very odd, for we do not deny that suffering in the gym can be beneficial ("no pain, no gain") and we do not deny that self-denial can be useful when dieting, for example. But to argue that suffering and forbearance for the sick or the depressed and for their families can be beneficial is to invite the allegations of unworldliness, harshness, fanaticism, cruelty. Ah well. So be it.
