My Hours
I just watched an excellent movie today. (For those missing the allusion to the movie in the title find one that Allison Janney, Meryl Streep, and Nicole Kidman are all in it.) Okay if you know the movie there are spoilers in this entry.
It works through one of the "big questions" that exist in philosophy, specifically what life is worth living?
The historical/religions answer is live is always worth living, i.e. under no circumstances should you kill yourself.
At one time before our medical/science got out of hand and learned how to keep people alive under Extraordinary circumstances, people used to get sick then they died. There was not much of a life after cancer, a stroke, a heart attack, or a bad car accident. These are all debilitating illnesses/accidents that can seriously impede living a desirable life; living bedridden is for most not a life worth living.
Under these circumstances it is morally reprehensible to deny someone the right to kill themselves. We have placed upon them a duty to live, upon which no measurable good or achievement can come except for the doctor’s success in keeping them alive. This is like utilizing human beings t some extent as a lab animal.
I wonder how often doctors debate the question should I save this patient? Its a tricky question involving societal norms, the patient’s wishes the family’s (possibly) irrational desires for companionship, the doctor’s desire to demonstrate their medical prowess, and hospital policy. Its an amazingly complex issue and as a a result we commonly choose the "safe" option, save a life at no regard to the costs mentally, physically, financially, and emotionally.
This unfortunately lends to facilities designed to warehouse people and keep them alive until they die regardless of the quality of life issues. This is why in my mind hospice is one of the most kind things a family can allow a dying relative.
Depression is a whole other matter.
Depression is something that silently, slowly invisibly kills people. It is not permeant though but often can feel to the depressed person that it is, that it is something they would never get out of. A quote that I got from a website somewhere that I’ve misplaced the attribution to sums it up very well, "Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."
What someone who is depressed forgets is to start living again, you’ve got to take a realistic look and examine all options, nothing show be excused too early, or thought undoable.
Sometimes suicide is an option. If you are already emotionally dead, why not bring your physical self in line with that? At some point depression should be declared a terminal illness and assisted/self suicide should be allowed. Where is the tricky question.
What amazes me is what people do to remind themselves that they are alive. They drive cars excessively fast, cut themselves, cause themselves pain, and other interesting things. If you have to prove to yourself that you are alive are you really alive, or just faking it?
I believe too many people in this world are following life along a preset script without regards to considering if they are really alive, or happy. W. H. Auden examines this question very well in his poem The Unknown Citizen.
I will live life, I will be happy, I will be free. I demand them, I am willing to make the efforts and sacrifices to ensure it.
I just wish I didn’t feel so alone doing it.