« Behold! Laurel and Brian's 2018 Christmas Letter | Main | Old photos make me realize life is way more complicated than photos show »

December 22, 2018

Comments

Our friends at the Salem Alliance church will have fits over your response; I applaud how you have approached this.

An old dictionary defines despair in this way: “Despair naturally destroys courage and stops all effort, but may produce a new kind of courage and fierce activity founded upon the sense that there is nothing worse to be feared.” (Century Dictionary, 1897).

In The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus asks “Should I kill myself?”, which for Camus is to answer the problem of whether and how to live. Long before Camus, William James asked, “What does it mean to ask whether life is worth living?” Religion begs the question by placing the responsibility outside of the person and seeks to chain us to life as an obligation to some deity.

If he has a named disease, there may be a database of people who have it and are involved in support groups, research, etc. If the disease is very common, like cancer or moderately common like MS, the database may be very large. But if the disease/condition is rare or uncommon the database may be small and it may be determined by the initials of the person who the person is. Perhaps they have hinted at their location or given clues in other emails which may be of help in pinning down their identity.

That said, I am not saying intervention is appropriate, just that it may be possible.

Sometimes suicide is the best choice. I don't think there is a judgemental Entity who condemns or punishes this. The suffering already exists. Life can put you in the position where the only way out is..out, but talks with sympathetic parties should be consulted and time given before acting.

My sympathies to anyone in this position.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

Strange Up Salem

Welcome to HinesSight

  • Salem Political Snark
    My local political rants are now made on this badass blog. Check it out. Dirty politics, outrageous actions, sleaze, backroom deals — we’re on it. 

  • Twitter with me
    Join Twitter and follow my tweets about whatever.
  • Church of the Churchless
    Visit my other weblog, Church of the Churchless, where the gospel of spiritual independence is preached.

  • Welcome to HinesSight. If this is your first visit, click on "About this site--start here" in the Categories section below.