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On 20050318 (Fri) at 1221:02 -0700, rayilynlee wrote: > I think assisted suicide is a reasonable and much needed option. I haven't > read Don's posts because I don't like to download everything, but I don't > think people should be encouraged to exist no matter what. I'd agree as long as we agree that it's equally unacceptable to _dis_courage people from existing. Making that decision is too personal, and the consequences too permanent, for it to be anyone else's business. Most people who kill themselves are looking for an end to suffering they deem worse than oblivion. They think future life can nohow offer any comfort or joy adequate to make their present and future suffering worth enduring. Some may be right. My own view, if it's worth anything, is that trying to end my "unbearable" suffering by suicide was by a long margin the stupidest thing I ever did, and I thank whatever gods may be that I blew it. Most of the best years of my life have been in the decade and a half since then, though confirming diagnoses of both PD and prostate cancer last year was admittedly not a high point. Suicide is "the last foolishness one should commit, given that it's the only one to which there's no remedy." I forget who wrote that; might have been novelist Jean Giono. (The original is, "C'est la dernière sottise qu'il faut faire, attendu que c'est la seule à laquelle il n'y a pas de remède.") YMMV, of course, if that doesn't sound abominably cynical. Wishing you well, whatever you decide that means for you....... -- Greg Louis ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn