The church is right about one thing: suicide is not an acceptable option

THERE is nothing remotely amusing about suicide, but one story on the topic at the weekend struck me as a bit funny. According to the Sunday Independent, “29 deaths by suicide can be directly linked to the turmoil in the construction and property sector ...”

If it’s true – and I’ve no reason to believe otherwise – that’s terrible. But the article went on to include searing attacks on the Government from the Irish Property Council (IPC), among others, for in effect turning a blind eye. What the IPC wants the Government to do – apart from reinflating the bubble presumably – wasn’t entirely clear.

It’s entirely possible the IPC feels its message was not conveyed fully in the article. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t.

My issue here is not that the Government’s handling of the economy is blameless – far from it – but the implicit emotional blackmail that appears to be deployed.

I’m sorry – and this is not a pro-FF point – but blaming the Government (any government) for all society’s ills is just a cheap shot: “People are killing themselves. The Government must do something.”

First of all, it pretends that Ireland is some command-and-control North Korea-type economy where the government owns everything and pulls all the levers and everyone else is simply an agent of its will. Since when?

Second of all, it takes away all sense of personal responsibility and places it firmly on the Government, and in the process assumes that somehow suicide is a rational or understandable response to times of trial and stress. It just isn’t. To coin a phrase first used in an entirely different context, we need to understand a little less and condemn a little more.

That runs against the grain of our times. Judgmentalism is desperately out of fashion, on which subject recall for a moment the recent death by suicide of the gifted designer Alexander McQueen. Awful, everyone said. He must have been terribly affected by his mother’s death a few days before, everyone said. Selfish brat, nobody said.

Everywhere in Europe, it seems, the taboo against suicide is waning. The “right to die” has become one of the most dynamic campaigns of our times – as if anyone were taking away a “right” that all of us, rich or poor, can absolutely guarantee will be vindicated.

In this of all weeks I hesitate to stand with the Catholic hierarchy, but on this one they are 100% correct: suicide cannot be a solution to life’s problems. That is not to adopt some extremist position. No one in their right mind would suggest posting a garda in every hospital to prevent suspected mercy killings. We tacitly accept that the rules do not always apply towards the very end of natural life, especially when immense pain and suffering are involved.

Doctors do what they can, accepting that miracles are not possible. They have long helped to speed along the death of a terminally ill and hopeless patient without needing the law to sanction or oversee it.

But we do need to say that even in cases of clinical depression – and certainly in cases of despair arising from financial hardship – tomorrow is very much another day.

In other words, rather than merely absorbing another blow or trying to paint a rosier picture of the health of the economy with a few statistics, the response to the Sunday Independent story should be simply: “The Government believes suicide is wrong.”

The sad pity is that governments do no such thing. Such a situation speaks volumes about the crisis of authority, where the state no longer feels confident enough to proclaim to its citizens that life is preferable to death.

Actually, I’m convinced the silent majority still believes that suicide is wrong, and that suicide is an individual tragedy. Yet there is a schizophrenia here. Contemporary culture has become ambiguous about suicide. We have a difficulty telling other people what to do and what to think, even when it comes to something as basic as choosing life over death.

Individual autonomy is a precious thing – including the autonomy to do stupid things like drink too much and eat the wrong things – but not at the expense of creating a culture of death.

Suicide for all but the noblest reasons is not a choice: it is a deeply anti-social act. The taboo against suicide needn’t arise out of religious belief but a recognition of suicide’s destruction of possibilities – not just for those who pull the trigger or jump off the bridge, but everyone around them.

Seeking not to stigmatise those contemplating suicide is useful only in so far as it enables them to come forward and seek advice. But that advice must always be that it is a very bad idea.

Of course, there are plenty of freaks out there – particularly on the www – who glorify suicide and take perverse pleasure in describing the pros and cons of the different methods. The euthanasia brigade will even help you if you haven’t got the misplaced “courage” to do it yourself.

But even at a more mainstream level, taking a stand that affirms life seems a bit hard. Although the Samaritans do some wonderful work, they insist in their statement of values that they “believe people have the right to find their own solution” because “telling people what to do takes responsibility away from them”.

Isn’t that suggesting suicide is a “solution” on an equal moral plane with fighting for another day? So, in theory, removing the stigma attached to suicide so that we can talk about it more openly is something to be welcomed. But the reality is that the main consequence of the campaign to destigmatise suicide today has actually been to normalise it, to present it as an acceptable and even respectable response to personal difficulty.

STIGMATISATION in the past no doubt made suicidal people feel isolated and may have stopped them from seeking help. Yet it also sent a clear message about the value of life and the ability of humans to overcome terrible obstacles and start afresh.

Perhaps the key to overcoming this nihilism is to use accurate language. Many of us talk about being “depressed”, failing to distinguish between a biological condition and merely being temporarily unhappy, which is culturally determined. Some property developers, like people in all walks of life, are depressed but many are just feeling down because they aren’t making what they used to make.

Suicide, even when it might appear the best way out, is just that – a way out. It is a preventable tragedy, not a lifestyle choice. Death is only the end of life. It is what precedes death that creates meaning. The only way to a good death is a good life.

So feel compassion towards desperate people, even property developers. I, for one, have no desire to upset their families and friends.

But there is a bigger issue at stake here than the feelings of individuals. It is about deciding what attitude we as a society want to take.

Let us all, Government included, say loud and clear that suicide is not an honourable option; it damages not one of us but all of us. And even in hard times, life is beautiful.