In a society like that of today, suicide is viewed not only as a negative thing, but also as a religious defiance. There has been however, many arguments made by various psychiatrists such as Thomas Szasz, which show suicide as a personal choice. Such as one would choose their clothes, or food, one can choose when to live or die. The idea that suicide is abnormal has simply been created by a society starving for diagnosis and a scapegoat. The truth then is clear, that dying by ones own hand is the best way to die.
To understand this view, one must first look at just what suicide is. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines suicide as the act of taking ones own life voluntarily and intentionally. So we can conclude that people who commit suicide do so by their own free will. The most common misconception surrounding suicide is that the only people who commit suicide are depressed and see no other way out. This however as previously stated, is a misconception, people kill themselves for many different reasons. For instance high suicide rates found within the elderly community can be attributed to the presence of loneliness, and a feeling of being a burden, whereas the high suicide rates found in teenagers can attributed to the process of adjusting to society and growing up.
"We are not responsible for being born," argues Szasz "but from that moment we acquire the power of self reflection, we are increasingly as we age responsible for how we live, and how we die." This argument can be best supported by the idea that each member of society is guaranteed certain liberties, including the right to decide what to eat, where to go, which clothes to put on, where to travel, who to communicate with, and various other personal decisions. Now, the question arises why not death? The idea that suicide is normal has been formally adopted by the Japanese Buddhist religion. The Buddhist belief is that suicide is not to be condemned if it is done with a calm mind.
