On November 18th, 1978 cult leader Jim Jones led 909 of his followers in a mass suicide by Kool-Aid flavored Cyanide. When news of the event broke the airwaves people were left reeling, ‘How did this happen?’ ‘Why would 909 people kill themselves?’ ‘Who was Jim Jones?’
A 45 minute tape recording the events as they unfolded reveals that Jones led his mob of followers in the suicide by citing the Movie “I Will Fight No More Forever” as an example of their loss of self-autonomy, warning that they would no longer be able to enjoy the peace they had enjoyed, and finally proclaiming “We must die with some dignity!”
Anyone who listens to the Death Tape, hears the directions of Jones to take children from their mothers arms and administer the poison, listens as Jones cites the reasons why what his followers are doing is an act of ‘dignity’, can do no other then come away appalled by this Villain and the Mob that he led to their death.
Recently the push for Physician Assisted Suicide has become an ever increasing clarion call of leftists across the nation. 6 states (and the District of Columbia) have legalized the practice, they are California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. The statutes of these states are very similar: An adult patient with a terminal illness (less than 6 months to live) can request a physician prescribe an overdose of opioids or similar drugs. So some of us may ask ‘what’s the big deal?’ After all aren’t these patients suffering and dying anyway? And indeed they are, but the truth is: suicide never provides an alternative to pain and suffering, instead, it magnifies both.
As someone who has suffered from the grips of depression and the struggles that darkness presents I can say without any reservation: Suicide is never the answer. This truth does not change rather we have a law, ruling, or prescription in hand. We can never certify, never normalize, never make OK, that which is broken, painful, and wrong.
It’s September of 2000, and a young man named Kevin boards a bus and heads to the Golden Gate Bridge with one thing in mind… he wanted it all to end. As Kevin arrived at the Bridge he described his desperate cry for help to those around him “I walked across the walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge for 40 minutes, up and down, back and forth, crying like a baby. Bikers, Joggers, Tourists, Runners, they all went by me. Police Officers searching for suicidal people went by me twice. I am leaning over the rail crying like a baby…. [and] Nobody cares.”
Kevin Hines, was that young man. He survived the jump. “The millisecond my hands left the rails [I had] instant regret. On my way down I said to myself ‘What have I done? I don’t want to die! God please save me.’” Today, Kevin tells his phenomenal story for others to learn from.
But what of those who passed Kevin by? I think it is a just conclusion to say that in so doing Society passed Kevin by. So what would we conclude of someone who would have led Kevin to the edge of the Bridge?
Contrary to what some might suggest the reason the terminally Ill are driven to consider Physician Assisted Suicide is not unmanageable pain (an issue which can be handled with palliative sedation) but rather, according to MD Magazine, 97% of patients choose suicide because the felt a loss of self autonomy, 88% cited no longer being able to engage in activities they once enjoyed, and 75% felt they had lost their dignity. In the Netherlands 56% of patients cited the primary reason they sought to end their life was Isolation and Loneliness.
Is this our message to those who feel out of control, unable to find joy in life, lacking dignity, and lonely?, ‘Drink this Kool-aid’, ‘Jump of this Bridge’, ‘Here take this pill... and claim your dignity’? If we endorse suicide for the terminally ill we are found to be little more than hypocrites. Leading our friends and neighbors to the bridge and telling them jumping is the dignified thing to do.
For a society that calls for the weak and downtrodden to speak with the #MeToo movement we use our next breath to prescribe silence to the suffering… this is nothing short of hypocrisy!
The truth is that a mob has risen calling on us to accept Physician Assisted Suicide as a ‘dignity’ when it is quite the opposite. But today you have a challenge, you have the facts, will you rise up as a movement and proclaim ‘Suicide is Never Good!’? Villains are Crowned to lead Mobs, Heros are Called to lead Movements. Which will you be?
A 45 minute tape recording the events as they unfolded reveals that Jones led his mob of followers in the suicide by citing the Movie “I Will Fight No More Forever” as an example of their loss of self-autonomy, warning that they would no longer be able to enjoy the peace they had enjoyed, and finally proclaiming “We must die with some dignity!”
Anyone who listens to the Death Tape, hears the directions of Jones to take children from their mothers arms and administer the poison, listens as Jones cites the reasons why what his followers are doing is an act of ‘dignity’, can do no other then come away appalled by this Villain and the Mob that he led to their death.
Recently the push for Physician Assisted Suicide has become an ever increasing clarion call of leftists across the nation. 6 states (and the District of Columbia) have legalized the practice, they are California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. The statutes of these states are very similar: An adult patient with a terminal illness (less than 6 months to live) can request a physician prescribe an overdose of opioids or similar drugs. So some of us may ask ‘what’s the big deal?’ After all aren’t these patients suffering and dying anyway? And indeed they are, but the truth is: suicide never provides an alternative to pain and suffering, instead, it magnifies both.
As someone who has suffered from the grips of depression and the struggles that darkness presents I can say without any reservation: Suicide is never the answer. This truth does not change rather we have a law, ruling, or prescription in hand. We can never certify, never normalize, never make OK, that which is broken, painful, and wrong.
It’s September of 2000, and a young man named Kevin boards a bus and heads to the Golden Gate Bridge with one thing in mind… he wanted it all to end. As Kevin arrived at the Bridge he described his desperate cry for help to those around him “I walked across the walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge for 40 minutes, up and down, back and forth, crying like a baby. Bikers, Joggers, Tourists, Runners, they all went by me. Police Officers searching for suicidal people went by me twice. I am leaning over the rail crying like a baby…. [and] Nobody cares.”
Kevin Hines, was that young man. He survived the jump. “The millisecond my hands left the rails [I had] instant regret. On my way down I said to myself ‘What have I done? I don’t want to die! God please save me.’” Today, Kevin tells his phenomenal story for others to learn from.
But what of those who passed Kevin by? I think it is a just conclusion to say that in so doing Society passed Kevin by. So what would we conclude of someone who would have led Kevin to the edge of the Bridge?
Contrary to what some might suggest the reason the terminally Ill are driven to consider Physician Assisted Suicide is not unmanageable pain (an issue which can be handled with palliative sedation) but rather, according to MD Magazine, 97% of patients choose suicide because the felt a loss of self autonomy, 88% cited no longer being able to engage in activities they once enjoyed, and 75% felt they had lost their dignity. In the Netherlands 56% of patients cited the primary reason they sought to end their life was Isolation and Loneliness.
Is this our message to those who feel out of control, unable to find joy in life, lacking dignity, and lonely?, ‘Drink this Kool-aid’, ‘Jump of this Bridge’, ‘Here take this pill... and claim your dignity’? If we endorse suicide for the terminally ill we are found to be little more than hypocrites. Leading our friends and neighbors to the bridge and telling them jumping is the dignified thing to do.
For a society that calls for the weak and downtrodden to speak with the #MeToo movement we use our next breath to prescribe silence to the suffering… this is nothing short of hypocrisy!
The truth is that a mob has risen calling on us to accept Physician Assisted Suicide as a ‘dignity’ when it is quite the opposite. But today you have a challenge, you have the facts, will you rise up as a movement and proclaim ‘Suicide is Never Good!’? Villains are Crowned to lead Mobs, Heros are Called to lead Movements. Which will you be?