... no matter what hollywood and movies like this try to imply.
Keep fighting the good fight, even the severely disabled have a lot to contribute. NEVER give up! It's taking the test and passing it that bring rewards on the other side of all this pain.
If a man cannot move anything but his face... Let him be. It is SELFISH to force someone to live as a vegetable when there is a choice. I wouldn't want to.
shareI totally agree, I would never want to live in pain and be crippled like that. Now I know some don't feel that way but that's my opinion. I do live in constant chronic pain but with my meds it is bearable. My pain without my meds is unbearable. If my meds ever stopped working or whatever I would have no choice but to end my life. No human could tolerate that pain. I would be screaming in agony and not be able to walk.
So I do know about pain and anyone in pain and disabled should have an out. I already have a plan if mine ever gets to be uncontrollable. By the way I'm 53 and have had 3 major back surgeries. I had to retire and I am legally considered disabled.
Now there is a difference in having a disability like being blind or living in chronic pain. Of course sometimes a person has both like the guy in the movie. I would certainly end my life in his situation. Living in pain and not being able to do take care of my own needs is not a quality life.
I just feel some of these people that are so against someone killing themselves because of pain might change their thoughts if they knew what it felt like. People should be able to choose and they should be able to do it in the best way which would be with a dr assisting like Dr. Kevorkian.
In many ways I could relate to Will's in the movie. I had an accident in my early 20's, which took 18 months to diagnose. It is not easy to cope with life, when you have a disorder that becomes worse after each year that passes.
I have been like this for well over 30 years, I tried putting a brave front on for many years, but this led to a Chronic Breakdown last November.
I have beat cancer, and nearly died twice from part of my intestines dying off - 2 major operations in 72 hours really took it out of me. That I have never really recovered from, even now 4 years later!
Pain I can just about cope with on high doses of Tramadol - but it really isn't a life, when you keep having medical nightmares because you are on over 30 tablets a day, and 6 BoTox injections every 10 weeks! Yes, I enjoyed my life until the accident, now I have to rely my wife and children.
Have I ever had thoughts of ending it all, I cannot say 'No', I would be lying and I am on anti-depressents. But, I found that by keeping myself occupied mentally as much as possible has helped me. I have studied many subjects over the years, become a MENSA member and increased my knowledge way beyond that of a normal person.
Just because I have an IQ of 160 does not mean I am clever, I do not agree with how IQ's are tested on people that think logically. There is variants of questions, in theory that could mean you could have a high IQ on one test, but on another the IQ would be very different.
But like Will, I had to re-adapt my life around pain and disabilities - it is not easy by a long way! There is a lot of things I wish I could have done years ago, but now those tasks are way out of reach.
However, what has kept me making that decision that Will decided - I have to think of my family, whom have looked after me for years! I suffer from a lot of emotional depression, but I still manage to get by!
Everyone is different, none of us are the same - we all think differently and make our own decisions based on our lives, regardless.
"a vegetable"? It's a tragedy you're still alive. I wouldn't want to live as an as$hole, taylorblaire13.
shareEasy for you to say when you're not in other people's positions and having to live their lives. Will's, for example.
Each person is different and lives a different experience. Whether they choose life or they choose death, that's THEIR decision, not mine. I don't judge.
Instead, if I love them enough, I will try to make their lives comfortable and hopefully worth living, letting them know how much they mean to me and to others who love them.
But outside of that, it's not my/our choice. It's theirs. They're the ones who have to live with it. And I respect that.
I don't pretend to know what's best for anyone else. I barely even know what's best for me!
Very well said!!
shareThis may be posted elsewhere on this board, but I've not seen it:
Javier Bardem starred in an excellent movie, The Sea Inside, which is based on a true story of a man's battle for the right to euthanasia.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369702/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_20
"I hate those guys." --Dean Wormer
That's a great movie. Bardem should have won an Oscar for his performance.
Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans.
I agree that any life seems to be better than no life and I cannot envisage how bad someone must feel to want to end their own life.
However, that is so easy to say for me who is not in constant unbearable pain.
Everyone is different, not only in their health but also how they deal with set backs, their outlook and so on.
This subject has been debated time and time again but to me the bottom line is that if I were so bad that I felt assisted suicide was the only relief then that choice should be mine.
What is right for some will not be right for others but it is a personal matter of choice.
That in my opinion is what this movie conveys.
It is not saying "you're better off dead than disabled", that's just ridiculous.
Being in a constant state of agony is a hard way to live and it's even harder to figure out how you're going to lessen that degree of agony. It would be very easy in that situation to just lose hope and end it in a moment of weakness. But the strength to keep going must come from within.
Trying to create a funny, engaging YouTube channel. If you guys check it out, hope you enjoy what you see. Thanks in advance.
Review of the film here- https://youtu.be/L2lK4ZfwZ7M
Will was in constant pain. He needed a caregiver for everything. He made the decision that was best for him.
shareWell if you people feel suicide is an actually valid option, why haven't you all committed suicide? Because the world is a cesspit of pain and misery. That's a fact. All we have is false hope. We lie to ourselves just to get through the day.
Why don't all human beings commit suicide?
I don't give a sh!t about money.
Will was not in constant pain before his accident.
He was healthy, vibrant, a master of the universe.
All he had to look forward to was painkillers and some pitying visits from his uncomfortable and shallow friends.
he had no wife or children. Christopher Reeve said in an interview that after his accident he was suicidal but he felt he would be abandoning his family.
The physical side was always worrisome, i.e., when Nathan explained that "Will doesn't sweat like us" and was always probe to pneumonia and infection.
Lou was the one bright spot but he could see that her world was very narrow and he wanted her to experience LIFE. he didn't want her tied down to him at such a young age.
His choice was a very personal one and I don't feel the movie was endorsing assisted suicide; it is just one man's story.
Very well said. 😄
shareYou're vastly distorting and misunderstanding what others are saying.
No one is saying "assisted dying" is an answer to every problem life throws at you.
For a VERY FEW who are in constant pain and are getting worse then they feel that they at least can have a say in when and how they end their own suffering. They wish to have the right to choose.
The vast majority of people make the most of their life in whatever way suits them, this includes disabled folk regardless of the severity of their disability.
Your life may be a cesspit of pain and misery but most people's are not.
I don't and can't speak for anyone else and neither can you.
I enjoy my life, it's good and I don't want it to end. Others are not so lucky and I try to have empathy with them but cannot even begin to know what they're going through.
I would never condemn anyone for their decision they made about their life.
most people's are not.You're wrong. That's all I can say. You are wrong.
Ok, maybe I should have added "in my experience".
I may be wrong, I didn't mean to imply that what I said was fact but just as easily I may be right.
It's subjective and down to each person's perspectives and experiences.
I feel very sorry for you as you just sound angry and depressed about everything to me.
Thanks for feeling sorry for me, I guess, but I'm not depressed. It's just a philosophy. The same philosophy that Woody Allen, and Charlie Kaufman have on reality if you watch their films.
I don't give a sh!t about money.
That is beautiful, thefence. And I couldn't agree more with you! Who are we to judge if someone wants to end their own suffering? It's their right!
shareHow I view mercy killing: People who are in so much pain, that they can't even take their own life by themselves. THey live a life where they need constant care and supervision. Dude, they can't even kill themselves. THey don't even have a say in that.
Not to mention, no one knows what it's like in the after life. For all we know, it's even better. Death is far from the worst thing that can happen to a person. Having to endure pain and suffering for years and years, seems pretty close to hell for me...! You would merely exist, not live...
Because not everyone is in constant agony, sickness and depression. You can't speak for someone who's in a situation you haven't been in.
And it's fictional don't get so bent out of shape.
The better answer to suicide is simply stop having kids. That way no one suffers. There is enough famine around the world, people suffering... why create more people? Good lord...
Nothing wrong with suicide. Only a cheerful person with no knowledge of constant pain would say that. There are people that can't take life and some that fight, but they both end up dead at one point or another.
http://www.youtube.com/user/alphazoom
https://soundcloud.com/#carjet-penhorn
If more people thought like you, do you know many millions upon millions of people would be committing suicide every day?
I don't give a sh!t about money.
Because not all human being live with conditions that leave them in constant unbereable agony, not all human beings are incapable of even taking a *beep* by themselves.
None of these things mean that your life isn't worth living or that suicide is the only option but even though disabled people might have less physical autonomy that doesn't mean they're impaired to make decisions about themselves.
**Not a native english speaker**
That is a horribly emotional, childish and manipulative reaction to a topic that requires understanding, empathy and maturity. People who are saying that they understand Will's choice have obviously not done it themselves because they're not in his position. Shocking revelation, I know. And even if they WERE in his position, it's impossible to know exactly what you would do once you're actually THERE, in that situation - you can guess, of course... but maybe some of those who agree with suicide will suddenly not want it for themselves and vice versa. Point is, when your life is looking to be decades long and all it has to offer you is an existence inside your own head, there isn't much to look forward to. Being in constant pain, being humiliated and treated like a child... these do a lot to a person.
Your "life is a cesspool of pain" point is ridiculously fatalistic. WHY is life a "cesspit of pain", exactly? Are we suddenly back to 2003 and wearing that ridiculous one-eye-covered hairstyle with magenta highlights? Are you SO incapable of finding anything pleasurable in life that you need to resort to angsty BS like "all we have is false hope - we lie to ourselves just to get through the day"? WTF?
Yes, I agree that people have the right to give up on their own lives if they feel it's the best option for them and they accept that this will most likely be their only life and existence (meaning: I am okay with people committing suicide as long as they don't do it believing they're "going to Heaven" or "reincarnating" - both of which are not facts, have not been proven, and thus should not be treated as realistic possibilities). What I am NOT okay with however, is believing and spreading that sort of fatalistic, pessimistic, BS, that "all life is suffering" and other such nonsense. If you wanna be alive then goddamn try your best to find ways in which to be happy. Wallowing in self pity and poetic emo BS will not help you - it's just gonna hold you back from appreciating even those small things that you're still living for.
My point? I find your reply to be not only immature but also super hypocritical. "Oh life is suffering but if you guys are so pro suicide then why don't you kill yourselves?". Yeah, perfect attitude on both fronts, you're obviously a person who has a place engaging in these conversations...
This whole argument reminds me of Woody Allen's signature quote.
“I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable.”share
I'd consider myself a realist, alright? But in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist... I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself - we are creatures that should not exist by natural law... We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, that accretion of sensory experience and feelings, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody's nobody... I think the honorable thing for our species to do is to deny our programming. Stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction - one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.
I don't give a sh!t about money.
No answer? You are pathetic.
I don't give a sh!t about money.
No answer because I said what I had to say on the topic and I only skimmed through your response without finding anything interesting to discuss further. I tend to do that online: if the discussion is getting uninteresting or redundant I'll let it die. As for "pathetic"... yeah, how pathetic of me to be ignoring you when here you are, visiting a 3-week old discussion, praying for people to reply to you when they obviously don't care to do that. So, so, so pathetic... I'm sorry. /s
Do you think you can stop clogging up my email address with IMDB replies now? Thanks.
I told you how meaningless life is, and why most humans should commit suicide. I guess you couldn't handle the truth. But yeah, see you later. I don't go on IMDB much anyway so don't bother replying.
I don't give a sh!t about money.
Exactly. I don't agree with your definitions of "truth", "interesting" or "meaningless". Also, I suspect, your definition of "deep". Hence no reply from me. Again: I said what I had to say. And yeah, you're not on IMDB much... which is why you replied to my 3-week-old comment, hoping for an answer that I was obviously not interested in giving you. You even baited a nice little "pathetic" in there, hoping to rile me back up into your "deep" thoughts on the topic.
You posted something super ignorant about suicide. I told you you were being ridiculous. And then you responded with emo BS that I cannot take seriously. I'm sorry. You need to get a more mature and nuanced approach on things before you start discussing delicate topics such as this - and so that you actually start making people want to talk to you further.
You won't bother replying... Yeah, after I specifically asked you to stop spamming my email account; it would be nice if you actually followed through on that one. I'm hoping you will. So... leave me alone? Thanks again. Bye.
Piss poor attempt at a rebuttal, as well as emphasizing on how evidently perturbed you were by my response. You are hilariously pathetic, and I think you know it deep down otherwise you wouldn't have replied.
Also, just stating the fact that I only just saw your reply the other day. That's why I only just replied. I barely go on IMDB compared to your worthless self.
I don't give a sh!t about money.
[deleted]
I had to go through several of your posts to untangle your philosophy that consciousness is an evolutionary misstep and we should all kill ourselves.
What a douche!
Because the world is a cesspit of pain and misery. That's a fact. All we have is false hope. We lie to ourselves just to get through the day.
[deleted]
I sort of agree with you. The "sort of" is because I can't be on the character's shoes. However, I differ with another gentleman here who mentioned the word "vegetable". For me, if you move everything from your neck down but there is nothing "upstairs", then you're vegetable. There is a Brazilian TV actor who was shot in the head by a car robber. His body is fine but we can t tell "he is not there anymore", now that is tough. The character had a miserable life but hey I know people in worse condition --- and no money but they don't wanna die.
share