Reply #63: It's more prevalent in other cultures

[Warpy]

I remember a serious flap some years ago when a Japanese immigrant mother walked into the Pacific ocean with her two young children, both of whom drowned before rescuers could reach them. Her intention was the culturally approved one of ending her own life and taking her small children with her because motherless children have far less chance of survival under the world's usual circumstances. Unfortunately, I remember the court didn't respect this sort of thing and the US stigma applied to suicide and the murder of one's children in the process prevailed, as it should have.

What is particularly hideous to most of us in the male led murder suicides is the fact that an adult human being--the wife--is seen as dependent and incapable of ensuring the survival of the children without the male in question, who sees himself as hero and sole provider with no alternative available to his family. The man in question seems to have no idea that he's not alone in the world, the rugged individual, captain of his ship and sole proprietor of a woman and their children.

Suicide is a complicated issue. It's not always the fault of depression and it's not always the coward's way out. It's the one real choice we all have in our lives, no matter how country and church both object to it.

However, there is something grotesque in deciding someone else's life has as little value as your own.