Live and let die

June 2, 2006 at 12:28 am (Uncategorized)

 

I had this buddy who came around one day boasting that he had learned of the perfect means of suicide. It was totally painless, he said, and nearly fail safe. All a despondent or terminally ill person had to do was to open up his cupboards and…

But that was as far as he'd go. No amount of coaxing would get him to cough up the information. It wasn't that there were many depressed or suicidal members of our hard drinking group. We preferred to kill ourselves by the ounce in a liquid death that would take several decades to complete. My friend did not want to share this macabre information because it was his heartfelt belief that the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

Very noble. And very pointless. Around the same time, the press started screaming about a controversial book titled "Final Exit," a handbook, more or less, on the how-to's of suicide. It was subtitled "The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance" and its publication set off a fierce debate. On one side of the screaming bout were those who believe that suicide is an individual right that should be afforded the men and women who suffer in pain from incurable afflictions. On the other side were those who insisted that "Final Exit" was an irresponsible instruction manual that would no doubt lead to the pointless deaths of young people and older folks who abandoned alternatives in favor of the quick and now pain free mortal solution.

Either way, "Final Exit" became the hot button issue of the day and subsequently, sold a billion damn copies. In it, a person could find the playbook for ending it all with drugs or household chemicals while using a simple plastic bag as a back up.

Soon there was a face to go with the book cover and catchy title as the Right to Death debate roared even louder. There was Dr. Jack Kevorkian with his death gizmos and contraptions and — let's face it — a gauntness and pallor that would make the reaper cringe. The shouting over the issue rises and falls like thunder, but it always comes back. There will always be human beings who are depressed to the point of debilitation or ill and pained beyond the reaches of even the most advanced medicine.

Final Exit will always be there with its coldly clinical examination of the mechanics of suicide. Dr. Kevorkian will likely be the face of the disagreement for generations to come. In the meantime, the issue will split even the tightest of friends: is suicide a travesty and a mortal sin? Or a practical solution for insolvable agonies as natural as lemmings hurling themselves to the death of the ocean?