9 ms·

I fully intend to kill myself eventually. The idea that I should prolong my life past the point where I get dementia, a degenerative disease, or just plain old

I fully intend to kill myself eventually. The idea that I should prolong my life past the point where I get dementia, a degenerative disease, or just plain old age where I can't stand up or whipe my ass is repugnant enough that I can't understand people who want me to suffer until doctors finally stop being able to put me back together. Much better to die cheaply with a wonderful cocktail of opiates while watching a sunset some on some tropical island.

martindbp 3y ago
Much easier said than done. I doubt you'll feel the same way when that old age approaches, just like teenagers who think life is practically over by 40.
- Joeboy 3y ago
  "Hope I die before I get old" - Pete Townshend, 1945—
  - crossroadsguy 3y ago
    Such edgy quotes aid in the mystic and aura building which eventually help with the sales.
- hasbot 3y ago
  Not at all. My grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 60's and eventually died of it. Near the end she was hoping to die.
- cedws 3y ago
  >just like teenagers who think life is practically over by 40 Sorry but... it kind of is, no? You've probably got a family weighing you down so you can't travel anymore. You don't have the freedom to start new exciting ventures. You can't quit your sucky job because it supports your family. You go to parties that end at 9pm and your social gatherings consist of talking about traffic and grocery prices. You're probably married to someone you love and respect, but the flame isn't the same as what you once had. Just my perspective as a 22 year old.
  - mk67 3y ago
    Nobody forces you to live like that. I'm 39 and not one point hits the mark for me. :D While true that it's harder to get social connections it's far from impossible; in the end you just need to go out and meet new people doing things alone sometimes. On the other hand I have much more money, thus can actually travel when/how I want, compared to my 20s, and could probably quit my job in the next decade, if I want to. Overall it's different to some degree, but in sum I'd say I enjoy life much more than in my 20s nowadays. Doubt that changes until I start to get sick(er) in my 50s/60s.
  - badosu 3y ago
    'family weighing you down' if that's how you'd see family at 40 sure
    - martindbp 3y ago
      That's what I keep telling my boy when he wants to cuddle up and read a bedtime story: "stop weighing me down, daddy has more important things to do, like vapid parties and brunch"...
  - s_c_r 3y ago
    I’m 37, married with two kids. Flying to Scotland for a week next Monday. Life is what you make it. I’m happier than I was at 22, no question.
  - giraffe_lady 3y ago
    lmao
  - argiopetech 3y ago
    If you've done it right, by 40 you have children. If you've raised them right, they're fun to be with. Even if you haven't, they require enough out of you that you want to go to bed by 9. Social gatherings are about spending time with other families and letting your children play. Your partner is a collaborative team member in a complex dance, and while the passion for that person is not as fiery as the lust-fueled early days before you realized they were a real person with flaws, it's no less significant in magnitude. Travel with a family takes more planning, but millions take significant road/flight/cruise trips every year. Budgeting (of money and, if applicable, vacation time) is key. Changing jobs or starting ventures is similar. It's easier to get a job if you already have one, it's easier to survive a job change if you have savings. Planning remains key. It's not as low-risk as it would be for a bachelor(ette), but you have the time, stability, and mindset to start slow and minimize that risk as you go. As your kids grow you have more time to pursue your interests. Eventually, if all goes well, you get the joy of grandchildren (all the fun of having children, but you can give them back). Retirement, if you've planned well and have your health, is a return to childhood (less money, more fun, most of your playmates are children [at least relative to your age]). There are another 40 years after 40. Plan accordingly.
- Madmallard 3y ago
  The people I know that are really old or the people I have known rather generally weren't too thrilled with living at that point. When your quality of life is really poor, living seems like more trouble than it's worth. I wonder if some of those people have a lot of agency over just letting their body stop working.
hasbot 3y ago
Same here. Having seen what two of my grandparents went through before their eventual demise makes me want to avoid doing the same.
theowaway44 3y ago
As I'm getting older (mid 40s), I have a different view now than before. I've seen people die in real life, and it was horrific. Even in hospital beds with morphine drips. I don't want to die in agony, or slowly suffocating as many do. I'll end it before it goes too far. I think more people should actually go to hospitals and see how real people die, instead of the comforting movie version where the family is gathered around while the old person slowly falls to sleep. That's unfortunately not that common. If I get cancer, I'll hang on for a while until there's not much hope left, and then go to a place with assisted suicide.
- thr-nrg 3y ago
  That's what the opiates are for.
  - elemos 3y ago
    Opiates only help so much, unless you’re talking about using them to overdose.
    - Madmallard 3y ago
      Assuredly he is
- Accacin 3y ago
  And even in the "comforting" movie version, it's still different in real life where they start gasping for breath. I at least thought the person was in pain or suffering somehow. (I did ask the Dr. that came to give us the death certificate and apparently it's because either the brain has shut down or and the body is still trying to perform it's duty or vice-versa and there's no pain or suffering just a part of passing away).
- kashunstva 3y ago
  As helpful as it can be in some respects to project oneself into a future time and circumstance, humans are often bad a predicting how they would decide on serious matters until they actually find themselves in that situation. This is particularly true in cases where quality of life is at issue.
swayvil 3y ago
I for one would like to enter that mystery with clear eyes and calm heart. No soul-grinding suffering for me, thanks. I've seen it. Crawling on the floor in your own filth, hissing and snapping at the nurses. I hear that starvation is good.
agensaequivocum 3y ago
Please don't. > I answer that, It is altogether unlawful to kill oneself, for three reasons. First, because everything naturally loves itself, the result being that everything naturally keeps itself in being, and resists corruptions so far as it can. Wherefore suicide is contrary to the inclination of nature, and to charity whereby every man should love himself. Hence suicide is always a mortal sin, as being contrary to the natural law and to charity. Secondly, because every part, as such, belongs to the whole. Now every man is part of the community, and so, as such, he belongs to the community. Hence by killing himself he injures the community, as the Philosopher declares (Ethic. v, 11). Thirdly, because life is God's gift to man, and is subject to His power, Who kills and makes to live. Hence whoever takes his own life, sins against God, even as he who kills another's slave, sins against that slave's master, and as he who usurps to himself judgment of a matter not entrusted to him. For it belongs to God alone to pronounce sentence of death and life, according to Deuteronomy 32:39, "I will kill and I will make to live." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae Secunda Secundae Partis. Q. 64 Art. 5 https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3064.htm#article5 https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3064.htm#article5
laratied 3y ago
Same here. I fear the random nature of a heart attack even more. My ideal is almost to take enough water into the woods to starve in the woods. To really stare my death in the face and experience it slowly. Clinging to life in a nursing home is a fate worse than death to me. I am sure this all depends on having kids or not. Being child free gives many more options.
- becquerel 3y ago
  It is incredibly difficult and miserable to starve to death. Experiencing death slowly - isn't living enough for that?
  - twelve40 3y ago
    i obviously haven't experienced what you described, since i'm breathing and typing right now, but weeks of going with no food were really pretty calming. The only downside was the weakness and mental fog that affects productivity but if you don't have to work at that point... Of course, all of this is super-individual.
- TheCleric 3y ago
  This is something I have thought about, but recently have paid attention to stories that seem to be along these lines, such as Gordon Kaye in Great Smokies National Park. While this may seem like a simple way, it seems like it wastes hundreds of people's time that could be spent helping people who are actually wanting help.
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    > While this may seem like a simple way, it seems like it wastes hundreds of people's time You could just leave a note or email. > that could be spent helping people who are actually wanting help. How many of those people were going to help others otherwise?
    - lazyasciiart 3y ago
parpfish 3y ago
I’ve often thought the same thing, but I also wonder if my future-suicide is just a line of mental gymnastics I put myself through to pretend that I have complete control over my mortality.
pokstad 3y ago
Not to mention the feeling of sucking resources away from those who need it to stop the inevitable. I hope I can be brave enough to say no to treatments when I am near, but it’s cheap talk.
acover 3y ago
Lots of degenerative diseases aren't so bad - for example osteoporosis. I get what you mean though, bad degenerative diseases.
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
> or just plain old age where I can't stand up or whipe my ass I hope you fully intend to continue exercising, and taking precautions against accidents, as the first line of defense against such a possibility. > I can't understand people who want me to suffer until doctors finally stop being able to put me back together. I just don't want the state being the entity that approves or disapproves of your suicide. If you're going to have an assisted suicide I want it to be, at most, through a clandestine network of people who want to kill themselves. Not through a government process.

martindbp 3y ago

Much easier said than done. I doubt you'll feel the same way when that old age approaches, just like teenagers who think life is practically over by 40.

Joeboy 3y ago
"Hope I die before I get old" - Pete Townshend, 1945—
- crossroadsguy 3y ago
  Such edgy quotes aid in the mystic and aura building which eventually help with the sales.
hasbot 3y ago
Not at all. My grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 60's and eventually died of it. Near the end she was hoping to die.
cedws 3y ago
>just like teenagers who think life is practically over by 40 Sorry but... it kind of is, no? You've probably got a family weighing you down so you can't travel anymore. You don't have the freedom to start new exciting ventures. You can't quit your sucky job because it supports your family. You go to parties that end at 9pm and your social gatherings consist of talking about traffic and grocery prices. You're probably married to someone you love and respect, but the flame isn't the same as what you once had. Just my perspective as a 22 year old.
- mk67 3y ago
  Nobody forces you to live like that. I'm 39 and not one point hits the mark for me. :D While true that it's harder to get social connections it's far from impossible; in the end you just need to go out and meet new people doing things alone sometimes. On the other hand I have much more money, thus can actually travel when/how I want, compared to my 20s, and could probably quit my job in the next decade, if I want to. Overall it's different to some degree, but in sum I'd say I enjoy life much more than in my 20s nowadays. Doubt that changes until I start to get sick(er) in my 50s/60s.
- badosu 3y ago
  'family weighing you down' if that's how you'd see family at 40 sure
  - martindbp 3y ago
    That's what I keep telling my boy when he wants to cuddle up and read a bedtime story: "stop weighing me down, daddy has more important things to do, like vapid parties and brunch"...
- s_c_r 3y ago
  I’m 37, married with two kids. Flying to Scotland for a week next Monday. Life is what you make it. I’m happier than I was at 22, no question.
- giraffe_lady 3y ago
  lmao
- argiopetech 3y ago
  If you've done it right, by 40 you have children. If you've raised them right, they're fun to be with. Even if you haven't, they require enough out of you that you want to go to bed by 9. Social gatherings are about spending time with other families and letting your children play. Your partner is a collaborative team member in a complex dance, and while the passion for that person is not as fiery as the lust-fueled early days before you realized they were a real person with flaws, it's no less significant in magnitude. Travel with a family takes more planning, but millions take significant road/flight/cruise trips every year. Budgeting (of money and, if applicable, vacation time) is key. Changing jobs or starting ventures is similar. It's easier to get a job if you already have one, it's easier to survive a job change if you have savings. Planning remains key. It's not as low-risk as it would be for a bachelor(ette), but you have the time, stability, and mindset to start slow and minimize that risk as you go. As your kids grow you have more time to pursue your interests. Eventually, if all goes well, you get the joy of grandchildren (all the fun of having children, but you can give them back). Retirement, if you've planned well and have your health, is a return to childhood (less money, more fun, most of your playmates are children [at least relative to your age]). There are another 40 years after 40. Plan accordingly.
Madmallard 3y ago
The people I know that are really old or the people I have known rather generally weren't too thrilled with living at that point. When your quality of life is really poor, living seems like more trouble than it's worth. I wonder if some of those people have a lot of agency over just letting their body stop working.

hasbot 3y ago

Same here. Having seen what two of my grandparents went through before their eventual demise makes me want to avoid doing the same.

theowaway44 3y ago

As I'm getting older (mid 40s), I have a different view now than before. I've seen people die in real life, and it was horrific. Even in hospital beds with morphine drips. I don't want to die in agony, or slowly suffocating as many do. I'll end it before it goes too far. I think more people should actually go to hospitals and see how real people die, instead of the comforting movie version where the family is gathered around while the old person slowly falls to sleep. That's unfortunately not that common. If I get cancer, I'll hang on for a while until there's not much hope left, and then go to a place with assisted suicide.

thr-nrg 3y ago
That's what the opiates are for.
- elemos 3y ago
  Opiates only help so much, unless you’re talking about using them to overdose.
  - Madmallard 3y ago
    Assuredly he is
Accacin 3y ago
And even in the "comforting" movie version, it's still different in real life where they start gasping for breath. I at least thought the person was in pain or suffering somehow. (I did ask the Dr. that came to give us the death certificate and apparently it's because either the brain has shut down or and the body is still trying to perform it's duty or vice-versa and there's no pain or suffering just a part of passing away).
kashunstva 3y ago
As helpful as it can be in some respects to project oneself into a future time and circumstance, humans are often bad a predicting how they would decide on serious matters until they actually find themselves in that situation. This is particularly true in cases where quality of life is at issue.

swayvil 3y ago

I for one would like to enter that mystery with clear eyes and calm heart. No soul-grinding suffering for me, thanks. I've seen it. Crawling on the floor in your own filth, hissing and snapping at the nurses. I hear that starvation is good.

agensaequivocum 3y ago

Please don't. > I answer that, It is altogether unlawful to kill oneself, for three reasons. First, because everything naturally loves itself, the result being that everything naturally keeps itself in being, and resists corruptions so far as it can. Wherefore suicide is contrary to the inclination of nature, and to charity whereby every man should love himself. Hence suicide is always a mortal sin, as being contrary to the natural law and to charity. Secondly, because every part, as such, belongs to the whole. Now every man is part of the community, and so, as such, he belongs to the community. Hence by killing himself he injures the community, as the Philosopher declares (Ethic. v, 11). Thirdly, because life is God's gift to man, and is subject to His power, Who kills and makes to live. Hence whoever takes his own life, sins against God, even as he who kills another's slave, sins against that slave's master, and as he who usurps to himself judgment of a matter not entrusted to him. For it belongs to God alone to pronounce sentence of death and life, according to Deuteronomy 32:39, "I will kill and I will make to live." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae Secunda Secundae Partis. Q. 64 Art. 5 https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3064.htm#article5 https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3064.htm#article5

laratied 3y ago

Same here. I fear the random nature of a heart attack even more. My ideal is almost to take enough water into the woods to starve in the woods. To really stare my death in the face and experience it slowly. Clinging to life in a nursing home is a fate worse than death to me. I am sure this all depends on having kids or not. Being child free gives many more options.

becquerel 3y ago
It is incredibly difficult and miserable to starve to death. Experiencing death slowly - isn't living enough for that?
- twelve40 3y ago
  i obviously haven't experienced what you described, since i'm breathing and typing right now, but weeks of going with no food were really pretty calming. The only downside was the weakness and mental fog that affects productivity but if you don't have to work at that point... Of course, all of this is super-individual.
TheCleric 3y ago
This is something I have thought about, but recently have paid attention to stories that seem to be along these lines, such as Gordon Kaye in Great Smokies National Park. While this may seem like a simple way, it seems like it wastes hundreds of people's time that could be spent helping people who are actually wanting help.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  > While this may seem like a simple way, it seems like it wastes hundreds of people's time You could just leave a note or email. > that could be spent helping people who are actually wanting help. How many of those people were going to help others otherwise?
  - lazyasciiart 3y ago

parpfish 3y ago

I’ve often thought the same thing, but I also wonder if my future-suicide is just a line of mental gymnastics I put myself through to pretend that I have complete control over my mortality.

pokstad 3y ago

Not to mention the feeling of sucking resources away from those who need it to stop the inevitable. I hope I can be brave enough to say no to treatments when I am near, but it’s cheap talk.

acover 3y ago

Lots of degenerative diseases aren't so bad - for example osteoporosis. I get what you mean though, bad degenerative diseases.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago

> or just plain old age where I can't stand up or whipe my ass I hope you fully intend to continue exercising, and taking precautions against accidents, as the first line of defense against such a possibility. > I can't understand people who want me to suffer until doctors finally stop being able to put me back together. I just don't want the state being the entity that approves or disapproves of your suicide. If you're going to have an assisted suicide I want it to be, at most, through a clandestine network of people who want to kill themselves. Not through a government process.