Advice

On creative suicide.

I’m meticulously planning my death and I am not ashamed of it. I am asking about it because I really have come to admire and respect your opinion but please again, rest assured it is by no means going to adversely affect me because there is no right or wrong answer with this and I am already sure of my decision to do it. So the question really is:

What do you think of someone doing this?

I told my mother (58) I love her so much endlessly however after she dies (which is in reasonably-let us say, 20-30 years or so) I will have my death planned out by then if I have not died by chance/accident already or another variable I didn’t consider. She was quiet at first but told me she’s proud. Everyone else seems to think I’m being completely absurd and hilarious. I have to be joking and so on. Actually, what’s funny to me is how nobody seems to take this too seriously at all. That’s why I thought I might write to you.

You see – my plan is to die for a cause, altruism if you will- but I don’t want to hurt anyone in the process so I am waiting for the only person that I know that would be deeply profoundly disturbed (mother) if my death would precede her own. As a fellow existential nihilist, I don’t really care about asking questions, pondering, searching for meaning. I have a shit ton of meaning everyday making friends happy, empathetically caring for others, having compassion and having fun. I just want to knowingly die that I am leaving the world behind a little bit of a better place somehow. Any thoughts on how to do that with a death? I don’t want to hurt anyone with bombings or any other melodrama. I just want to liberate people somehow. I don’t have a martyr complex or anything fatalistic like that. I am just comfortable knowing that I can go anytime and I would like to know that, if I had a choice, I would have a plan for it. If it doesn’t happen that way then I am fine with that too. But I do care about living, about the people who love and care about me and what I am going to do until I execute this said-plan. Which is just conjecture at this point until I go through with it! I think many people struggle with the thoughts of suicide but now since I have almost died three times (if you read about my trip to India and etc. note prior, you may have missed it it’s ok). I have deduced that it is not healthy to think of death as taboo under the guise of good manners.

So here is where I am with this.

Thanks for always taking the time to read these tedious things. You really have a startlingly bold and original voice I have come to admire and respect. I hope you don’t take this as flattery for the sake of because I am being sincere. Your musings on the satire of human life your commentary and unflinchingly abrasive brilliant prose are all even more amazing because of your choice to remain anonymous. What a feminist adventure! I think you are one of life’s treasure finds. You are a talent that is undoubtedly enriching peoples lives. Love that shit, it’s brave noble and you’re really fun and pornographic too. I’m writing a review that only you will be reading. Ha. Toodles

xo

Announcing that you’re not ashamed to be meticulously planning your death is a tiny bit of false humility on your part. Of course you’re not ashamed. In fact, you’re quite proud.

Admit that your proud. Own that shit and let your mother off the hook. You don’t need her vicarious pride, and she doesn’t deserve to contemplate her own death concurrently with yours.

Each of us must come to terms with our mortality in our own way, and it’s not fair for you to hoist your death onto hers. It’s incredibly selfish of you.

It’s not thoughtful enough for you to wait until your mother dies before offing yourself. She should also die believing that you will continue leading a long and happy life. At the very least, your meticulous plans should include whatever ruse is necessary to convince her of that. You may not respect the gift of life, but at least respect your mother.

That being said, I’m not going to try and talk you out of suicide. It’s your death, you only get one, and it’s certainly yours to do with as you like. Go ahead, be creative.

As long as you stay true to your word not to hurt anyone in the process, feel free to pull off something spectacular.

You’re not going to liberate anyone, though. It doesn’t work like that. Noble suicides are exceedingly rare. They are the product of history in the making, not individual planning. I’m sorry to say that you will not get swept up in the revolution.

If the goal then is to die for a cause, you’ll come up short there as well. The Catch-22 to finding a cause worthy of your death is that any cause that directly benefits from your planned suicide is inherently unworthy, and any cause that suggests otherwise is also inherently evil.

Modern science affords us only one exception to these rules — make sure you’re a fucking organ donor.

Organ donation is the only legitimate and tangible way your early demise might serve an altruistic purpose. Whatever else you do, you’d be an complete asshole not to ensure that each and every one of your donatable organs is kept in tip-top shape, both pre and post mortem.

Again, you may not respect the gift of life, but at least respect the people in dire need of your heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver.

Of course, this altruism limits you to drowning in a bathtub filled with ice water. Not particularly creative, and certainly not spectacular.

Listen, you’re obviously intelligent. I get that you take this stuff seriously, but that’s not the same as being emotionally honest. If you really are an existential nihilist, then you should know that trying to cram a bit of significance into your suicide is just as delusional as expecting life after death.

Plus, you seem to be confusing lack of purpose for a lack of value. Life may be meaningless, but it’s still priceless.

Don’t worry. You’ll die someday, and you might even get to plan it. In the meantime, how ‘bout you go do something fascinating and altruistic with your life instead?

Toodles.

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One thought on “On creative suicide.

  1. Anna says:

    I’ve been thinking about altruistic suicide for a few hours.
    The ice bath isn’t a bad idea. other option is showing up with a huge sign saying “I’m an organ donor” before shooting your brains out at the doors of the ICU (providing there’s a bed available).

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