Caring parents

Do your parents love you this much?

[Dante Hicks]

Probably better than enduring being old and in time losing all semblence of dignity.

[pablissimo]

Everybody hates the old.

Fact.

[Deffeh]

faked suicide anyone?

[Xillah]

Old people should be shot at birth.

[Aryn]

sounds like a good idea
i'll write it down now in case i forget later




honestly i don't see the point in keeping old people alive for no reason other than 'we don't want to see them die' etc etc. that couple earns a lot of respect in my eye. (though i usually lose all respect for suicide. i think they did it for the right reasons.. not being stupid teenagers doing it cause their bf dumped them or whatever)

[Ice-Lady]

82 and 71 are not that old, my own parents are in their late 60's and I couldn't imagine life without them!! They still lead a very productive life and are always willing to help me and my brother out with our houses etc...tbh I would say they are fitter now then when they were in their 40's, they still work out at the gym and often bike ride 15 plus miles without problems
I would think that couple still had alot to offer their family, instead they have given them the burden of grief, the expense of a funeral and the grandchildren have lost their grandparents :/
I find it rather sad really that they felt so bad they had to resort to committing suicide

[Ap0k]

Originally posted by Ice-Lady
82 and 71 are not that old, my own parents are in their late 60's and I couldn't imagine life without them!! They still lead a very productive life and are always willing to help me and my brother out with our houses etc...tbh I would say they are fitter now then when they were in their 40's, they still work out at the gym and often bike ride 15 plus miles without problems
I would think that couple still had alot to offer their family, instead they have given them the burden of grief, the expense of a funeral and the grandchildren have lost their grandparents :/
I find it rather sad really that they felt so bad they had to resort to committing suicide

iirc the article says they were ill. therefore the grandchildren may have ended up paying more for hospital treatment and medication in the long run, and a funeral on top of that. now they only have to pay for a funeral.

im not saying, "it was ok b/c they cut the cost of keeping grandparents" but from the suicidee's point of view (which i can see) they would have been a burden to their children. it could have been even more sorrowing for them to watch their parents just fading away into nothing, whereas now they can grieve and itll all just pass into memory, as opposed to living with the torment of watching their parents just wither and crumble.

id guess it was probably the best, if not the most desirable, solution and the couple concerned deserve at least some respect for their logic of not wanting to be a burden/expense on their kids.

edit: correction - it didnt say they were ill, they wanted to die before they got ill. same difference really. the logic was still there

[LHC]

It was a bad method of suicide though.

[Ap0k]

might have been the cheapest method though.

(or maybe they couldnt afford it.

or maybe it was a spontaneous decision...?)

[Dante Hicks]

Originally posted by Ice-Lady
82 and 71 are not that old, my own parents are in their late 60's and I couldn't imagine life without them!!

I don't think anyone serious is saying that old people should be killed when they reach age X. However, how long do we really expect to live? If people are healthy (mentally and physically) then sure, they can keep going until they are in their 70's. Some people (possibly partially genetic trait?) are still lucid and capable of looking after themselves into their 90's.

If we raise everyone's living standards to a certain level, encourage healthy living and all have jobs which encourage active minds then sure, people "in general" can still be quite competent up until 70 or so. But beyond that, it's very labour intensive to provide constant care for large numbers of people. Aside from the economic cost, people in such a situation are often miserable and not enjoying a great standard of living.

With Europe's birth-rate ever declining (and eventually, the rest of the world will probably be the same) it's folly to presume that families with be able to support people. Most people who are in their twenties now if they do live to 80 will probably only have two or three living relatives anyway - which is no way large enough to provide a support structure.

When I start getting to a level where I can't cope with general living without support (e.g. going to the toilet is a great struggle) I'm going down the chemists to buy me a big jar of morphine* to ingest.

* = Morphine will be freely available on demand then by the Socialist-Libertarian decree of 2037.