Do you believe that a man has a right to die as and when he chooses?
To take one’s own life is called suicide. Suicide has always been discouraged. Judaism, Christianity and Islam consider it a sin. In some societies suicide is accepted or even expected in the face of disgrace. Hara-kiri is an ancient act of ceremonial suicide in which a short sword was used to slash the abdomen from left to right, then upwards. This was resorted to by warriors to escape capture by the enemy as well as to avoid dishonourable execution. The Japanese favoured hara-kiri to avoid capture even during the Second World War. Like the Japanese the ancient Romans and Egyptians also killed themselves to avoid disgrace or capture by the enemy. We have the examples of Brutus, Cassius, Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
There are many countries in the world which have made attempts to consider suicide a cognisable offence. (Incidentally, this is the only criminal offence that attracts punishment for just the attempt, and not for the commission of the offence.) Until 1961 the U.K. sought to discourage suicide by making it a crime; it still is in India and in some U.S. states.
There is by and large no social sanction for suicide. An attempt to commit suicide is often thought to be an implicit ‘plea’ for help, and may result from extreme depression and helplessness. There are also the cases of some notable literary figures who have committed suicide; Ernest Hemingway, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath are examples. Hamlet contemplates suicide in a mood of depression:
To be or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them.
In the U.S., suicide is the cause of 1.4% of all deaths each year. The suicide rate there is 12.7 per 100,000 population. The comparative rate for Britain is 7.8 and for Switzerland 23.8.
No one religion or organisation or group of people encourages suicide or upholds the commission of suicide as a personal right. In fact not even courage is attributed to the person who commits suicide; he is, on the other hand, looked down upon. As Martial sings,
When the blandishments of life are gone,
The coward sneaks to death, the brave live on.
We may, however, ask ourselves the question whether a man has a right to die as and when he chooses. An individual has got his personal rights or fundamental rights; these are the right to freedom of speech and expression, to acquire, hold and dispose of property, to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business, etc. In other words, the fundamental rights guaranteed under a democratic constitution are intended to ensure peaceful life for the individual. Personal rights imply respect for the dignity of the individual.
God has given us life. Is it within us to take that life as and when it pleases us? Perhaps not. You may argue that taking one’s own life is not taking another’s life and that in the same way as you have no right to kill another person you have no right to kill yourself. Both your life and the life of another person are God-given. This is perhaps a religious view.
But even rationalists and atheists who do not believe in a life after death or in the existence of God do not recommend suicide as a panacea for personal suffering. They too insist on the useful role which every individual can play in society. According to them, killing oneself is defeat- ism. They say that a healthy mind does not contemplate suicide as a solution to personal problems. The very thought of suicide is an aberration of the mind. All cases of suicide, when investigated upon, show that it is disillusionment, despair, depression, disgrace (or the fear of disgrace), and lack of courage to face life in the raw that drive a person to suicide. Depression, disillusionment and despair are psychological symptoms.
It may also be argued that persons who have outlived their useful- ness to themselves and to society should have the choice to take their own lives. That is to say, persons who are suffering from incurable diseases like leukaemia or AIDS or those who are old and incapacitated for life should be given the freedom to choose to die. The law against suicide should not prevent them from ending their lives, if they wish to do so. In other words, euthanasia should be encouraged. But euthanasia cannot be permitted except under special circumstances in view of the dangerous potentialities of the practice. To allow a fellow human being suffer agonising illness, giving him no opportunity for a merciful release, is inhuman. The patient should be the best judge. If his thinking is impaired, the doctor could be the judge. If life is a round of suffering and if one has suffered enough, it should not be his bane to die suffering from a terminal disease. And we all pray for a peaceful death.
Suicide as a way out of worldly problems, say, failure or unrequited love, is cowardly and is as bad as homicide. It is an aberration of the mind that drives a person to suicide. It is perhaps not the individual who is responsible for this aberration; the circumstances may combine with his lack of fortitude. Social measures can be adopted to allow an individual to lead a contended life. Condoning suicide is ruinous to civilised existence.
