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To: stuartcr
So killing oneself is relative.

I never said that. I wish I knew where you really wanted to go with this. You are confusing me. As an attorney, I've been trained in how to differentiate specific acts of harm. If I have failed to do so to your satisfaction, I apologize, but I really don't know what you want me to say. As compared to suicide, giving one's life voluntarily out of necessity to save another is not a difference of degree but a difference of kind.

Suicide is intentional self-destruction without justification or excuse. It is self-murder. There is nothing about it that is noble. It is running away from something perceived as too difficult to bear. Ultimately, it is selfish. And no, it does not reflect the operation of a healthy mind.

Sacrifice of self for the good of another is an entirely different frame of mind. It is not grounded in fear but in courage and love. I am reminded of that Cuban mother who lost her life at sea trying to get her little boy to America. She would have lived if she could have found a way, but circumstances did not allow that, yet she took that risk on her son's behalf. I really don't see how you get "relative" out of that. Please enlighten me.

37 posted on 05/25/2011 7:42:59 PM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: Springfield Reformer

No you didn’t.

I think it is a difference of degree, not kind. Bottom line, one’s actions brought about their own death, whether instinctive reaction, deliberate, justified or not. If the end result of an attempted suicide, falling on one’s sword, martyrism, suicide by police or jumping on a grenade is sure death, then the only thing that determines it’s goodness or badness, is it’s relativity to the situation or circumstances. To save another, to show one’s determination, to self-destruct, these all have the same result. The only differences are the method and/or motivation. How can you say that to the individual, their suicide was without justification or excuse? That really is just an opinion, isn’t it?

I don’t understand why so many people reject the idea that most everything in life is relative to something. How are circumstances not the same as things being relative to a situation? I’m just asking to see where you, an attorney, stand on this. Thanks


39 posted on 05/26/2011 5:38:27 AM PDT by stuartcr ("Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.")
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