Is this a bad thing?

[sh17]

www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/22/assisted.suicide/index.html

This has been a controversial issue for about the past 30 years, give or take. I'm actually partial to it, since I advocate complete control of your own life(which is why I hate socialism and communism but that's another issue for another day). Why suffer when you can have a choice in the matter? I personally don't think I could ever do it myself, however I can see where others might.

[Bubba JD]

i wouldn't advocate it for just anyone. i think that a person should have one hell of a good reason to take your own life. if you suffer from an incurable disease that will only put you through intense pain & agony, i can see giving the person a choice on suicide. i don't believe that a person should be forced into excruciating pain or suffering when it's not needed.

if the only thing doctors can do is ease your pain with medications (like morphine), no reason you should be forced into living, if you don't want to.

if a person gets crippled up in an accident, making it nearly impossible to have a decent quality of life, then allow them the option of dying with dignity.


in any such case, i would ask that a high standard be placed on this. i wouldn't want people ending their lives, just because of a little depression. i wouldn't want this used for people who are mildly crippled up. i wouldn't want this used for people that can reasonably live with a disease with some treatment. if there's a reasonable shot that your disease can be cured or treated, giving you years to live, i wouldn't want this done too quickly.


i believe in limited use of suicide, as a legitimate way of dying. if it means having someone assist you in doing this, i'm cool with it. for me, suicide should be saved for extreme cases only.

[sh17]

Well, this would beg the question: Is mainstream America as a whole mature enough and level-headed enough to handle this issue? We devolved a whole presidential election to black vs. white, so how can we handle an issue that literally deals with human life?

[Bubba JD]

quite simply, the American public isn't ready for this issue, yet. we've been dealing with abortion for decades. people still argue about the legalization of marijuana....an argument that's been going on for quite awhile, too. i've even seen people argue over stuff like spanking kids, over the last 15 years or so.


if we can't even agree on the proper discipline of a child, how are we going to agree on suicide?

[sh17]

To this point, I was watching CBS's evening news today and saw a report on some drug supposedly used for adults with psychotic problems that doctors had been prescribing for children with behavioral problems. So, instead of parents doing their job and parenting, they are willing to put their child on medication that causes growth of female breasts in males. I realize that some kids have ADD and ADHD and I completely understand putting them on medicine that makes their lives easier. However, if you just haven't instilled basic discipline in your kids then you as a parent have failed.

Here's the video if you all want to see it: www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5038367n

[Bubba JD]

oh, God.......it drives me absolutely nuts when i hear of all these kids being diagnoses with ADD/ADHD. seriously, i never heard of that problem until the mid-to-late 90's. i can't possibly imagine that all these kids are legitimately suffering from ADD. some of them, i could see it, but so many?


if i was a kid nowadays, i'd be diagnosed with 9 or 10 different problems. i'd probably be on medications for clinical depression, ADD & God knows what else. my brother would've been a walking pharmacy, if he grew up these days. he was truly a hyperactive kid. parents had to ask the pediatrician a few times if his behavior was normal or not. based off what they described, the doc would simply say "he'll grow out of it. some kids are just hyperactive".

sure shit, my brother grew out of it, just as the doctor said would happen. he wasn't sure how long it would take, but he knew that the older my brother got, the more he'd mellow out.

i have to wonder if many of today's kids are like that. maybe they need more chances to work off their energy. Lord knows that kids today are so over-protected. homes are childproofed. playgrounds have lame, plastic equipment, as opposed to the awesome stuff i got to grow up with. playgrounds have more padding on the ground. back in my day, we didnt' get this extra padding. it was hard freakin' ground. equipment had wood posts, metal slides, huge ass monkey bars......stuff that we'd often get hurt on.

when we got hurt, we'd get this nasty, stinging anti-bacterial spray on our cuts (if they were bad enough). we'd get a band-aid to cover our cuts. if it was bad enough, we'd get taken to the doctor for stitches, which was common. then, after it was all said & over with, we were right back at the same playground, repeating the same stupid shit.

why? it worked off a lot of pent up energy. most parents found that it was easier to give so much time of unorganized playtime. let us play off our energy. kids have an easier time settling down, if they can actually use their energy in good old fashioned play.


play dates is a thing that annoys me. why do parents need to organize such shit? too much fucking structure can be just as bad as no structure at all. if the only thing kids do is organized activities, then they won't learn how to chill out & relax. they'll think every minute of their day needs to be scheduled with activities.

discipline is also needed, desperately. too many kids don't get enough, anymore. can't spank kids without being blamed for child abuse, neglect & other such crap. when i was young, not only could you spanked, but the parents (dad's especially) would use their belts.

didn't have to get too many spankings to realize that you needed to behave.