Bite my shiny metal ass
17 year old girl allowed to kill herself Legally
- Thread starter B&W
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Curious because this seems to keep being said, that at some point in time she'll just live a "normal life". As in, once you get old enough, a switch is flipped and you can forget about it.
I'm still traumatised today by some of the (silly, innocuous) things that happened at school. My brain keeps playing episodes where I failed hard or got bullied or whatever. And that's nowhere near as bad - not in the same ballpark, not in the same universe. But my brain keeps replaying to me crap that happened in secondary school, college, university and won't let me stop dwelling on them. Not constantly, but enough to be a royal pain in the arse. Often it's like I'm right back there re-living the moment; experiencing again those emotions of humiliation and inadequacy.
I don't think child abuse victims ever get those feelings and images out of their heads. Neither do war vets. Look at how broken the people coming but from 'nam were. Utterly broken, often for the rest of their lives.
Mental damage doesn't always heal, and "normal lives" are sometimes beyond the realms of possibility.
Soldato
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Soldato
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Most people who suffer traumatic experiences can overcome them though, especially when given the proper support and care they need. Obviously she's always going to have the weight of what happened to her to deal with, just as you have your modest traumas on your shoulders. But everyone has their own demons and most can live relatively normal lives.
I don't think a 17 year old is emotionally mature enough to know if they can overcome the experience. I don't think the state has done all it can to support someone if they are taking their life at 17. Without knowing the case better, I would reserve judgement, but my instinct is this is wrong.
As for the Vietnam veterans: it's worth noting than many of them did not get any support, they were treated in a very different way to how we handle rape victims.
That said, I have no great objection to suicide. If people have been given all the support needed and still want to end it, I don't really care. But I just can't believe a girl of 17 has been given that.
I understand now. You're saying you lack the choice because of guilt / expectation due to those around you. You're not free to end your life because you can't do so without hurting others. This is true. But that's just the way it is - people care about you. If you apply that principle consistently, by the way, you also have a responsibility to try to become happy as that will also help those around you (as well as yourself).
I don't think her being raped at 11 and the subsequent problems are a chemical imbalance.
It causes a chemical imbalance that is what depression is
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Soldato
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Puberty starts in girls between 10 and 14 so I don't know where you get 16 from. That would be considered quite a late onset of puberty in girls. At 17 she was still a minor under Dutch law but that is not relevant as anyone from the age of 12 can be considered.
You have zero knowledge of what support she did or didn't get. Stop thinking you know better than her or her family and medical team.
The Nazi comment is frankly ridiculous and very offensive.
Where is your empathy for a person who is suffering every day? You have no idea of the psychological and physical pain she suffered from every day and while you try to claim you are the one that has the empathy your statement shows you don't, you just care on what your opinions are, not how she felt and wanted to do with her life.
Wow that is an insight into your mind. That living for revenge of a murdered parent would be better than dying to end a thoroughly miserable life. I'd rather take death thanks than suffering the pain of a murdered parent and then a life filled with a feelings of revenge. Can't think many worse reasons for living than revenge.
Comments like make me sick. You again like to claim you are a person with great empathy but clearly have zero understanding of what people who have been raped suffer. I know several women who have been raped, I had a girlfriend who was repeatedly raped as a child and at 30 years old she still suffered horrific PTSD that could be triggered by the smallest thing and she would revert to a child in terrible suffering. To my shame I couldn't cope with it and the relationship ended. She had been in therapy from 18 years of age, so 12 years and still she suffered, she is probably still suffering to this day if she hasn't ended her life. We completely lost touch after we broke up and she moved away. You should look up the suicide rates for abused children and the crime rates. To try and claim that people get over it and move on is a joke. Even those who might appear ok on the outside I would bet are still suffering the effects, you are just unaware of them. Stop trying to force your opinions on others. You don't know better than her family and her medical team. I applaud the Netherlands for their open minded view on these matters.
No, if you were raped at a young age, you'd have significant amount of neurons attached to that memory, and puberty would substantiate it further, it's not just a chemical imbalance, it's literally who they are.
I have no idea how she felt, but imagine thinking half the populace are predators out to abuse you, can you sustain a stable mind when you're constantly surrounded by a reminder?
I really am confused why you guys are taking my comment out of context at all, there is a chemical imbalanced involved there always will be. That's why most cases of depression can be treated, but not all.
I'm not disregarding any part of the impact the trauma that the events of her life have had on her mental health?
I believe her choice was substantially backed up by her medical team and it her extreme case it was the right thing to do.
Never my intention to disregard anything, stating that depression isn't just a "feel bad" condition but can actually be medically proven and has actual physical effects.
What if we do not wish to be a part of your stupid society ?
But I thought life was a gift ? Gifts usually don't come with conditions of societal servitude
If everyone thought like that there would be chaos, anarchy. All sorts of madness would be rationalised.
Life is a gift, it's up to you how to use it. Servitude is a strong word, but we are reliant on each other to a degree.
I think it just means life is precious. Which it is.
Then why the suffering then?
This is just my opinion, I'm not claiming this is right one way or another:
At 17 she was still pretty much a child in many ways without the full experience or perspective to make such a final decision.
Depression in youth is always a lot worse than it seems as you gradually build up resistance to problems and issues in adulthood.
It's also a sad fact that many of the World's most successful and inspirational women were also the victims of child rape who managed to completely rise above it and in doing so help millions of other women. Like Oprah Winfrey for example.
This girl needed more talking to, more compassion, maybe even some tough love, not to be given such an easy option.
I know from experience that being depressed at 17 can seem like the absolute end of everything - given the chance a lot of subsequently successful people would have likely taken this option just like this poor girl did.
I'm not even against euthanasia, realistically it's going to be a necessity for the elderly especially, I just feel 17 is so young, so much time to still to heal, so much time to potentially help others, at least until 21 or so, even that seems too young.
At 17 she was still pretty much a child in many ways without the full experience or perspective to make such a final decision.
Depression in youth is always a lot worse than it seems as you gradually build up resistance to problems and issues in adulthood.
It's also a sad fact that many of the World's most successful and inspirational women were also the victims of child rape who managed to completely rise above it and in doing so help millions of other women. Like Oprah Winfrey for example.
This girl needed more talking to, more compassion, maybe even some tough love, not to be given such an easy option.
I know from experience that being depressed at 17 can seem like the absolute end of everything - given the chance a lot of subsequently successful people would have likely taken this option just like this poor girl did.
I'm not even against euthanasia, realistically it's going to be a necessity for the elderly especially, I just feel 17 is so young, so much time to still to heal, so much time to potentially help others, at least until 21 or so, even that seems too young.
7.7 billion people disagree... well a lot of them don't, probably the religious nuts.
My life is precious, yours is nothing. Maybe a RIP post. That's how it works.
Soldato
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But it isn't, there's trillions of different living organisms on this planet, entire species have come & gone over billions of years & we have even played a part in extinguishing that life and continue to do so, in order to survive we must kill a living organism be it an animal or a plant, but life, it's precious
Hell we're quite comfortable extinguishing each other over ideologiesWe're not even the equivalent of a grain sand in the universe, not even comparable to atoms most likely, do we consider how precious and important each grain of dirt we walk on is ? do we think how precious the atoms that bind us are ?