Don't humans have a right to choose whether this life is for them or not. Why keep them alive only for them to become depressed and start hurting others who actually want to live?
Anyone have good reasons?
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 20672383 It is about land, labor and wealth.
It used to be that for the prince to have his stables, his wine cellar, his castle and his velvet and lace, he had to have a bunch of us picking and plowing and milking and herding and sewing and tending and living off the scraps of what our own hands and backs produced on his land.
Our labor was needed (for the prince's wealth) whether we enjoyed life or didn't. No one really cared what we felt. They cared that we work. Even when we preferred to die.
So suicide was banned and punished by religion and law. We were told God would punish us forever. We knew we would be shamed and punished if we tried and failed. Our families would be shamed and ostracised if we succeeded. That's what I mean by punished for suicide.
Think of the negotiation power peasants would have if they told theirlandlord--"if we don't get fully half of what we produce on your land we will avoid having children. You won't break another life on your land. And if you don't let us hunt as you do we will hang ourselves, three each night, until there is no one left to pick your grapes and olives but you. You won't be able to bring more serfs when the story goes around that we hanged ourselves from hunger."
S of course the majority had to be convinced that God forbade suicide. And that God was real. And that the priest knew God better that your grandma. And that people who said the priest was full of it, or even mistaken were blasphemers who had to be rejected and killed some horrible way.
Today, we still follow those laws and ideas. Suicide is forbidden. Family planning is suspect. Labor organizers are labeled godless communists. Atheism is scapegoated.
---
But our lives today are not the lives of serfs. If you are suicidal you are depressed. Its the cold dark gloomy December. Take some fish oil. Exercise even if you hate it. See a doc if you can. Wait for the sun.
If you know a place with glaring bright lights, go there in the morning. Any kind of light will do. It should feel real good. Then get all the daylight you can.
