I am sentence to death. We all are. This is a statement of fact.
I am “sentence” This is a fact, a biological, unescapable, inevitable
certainty fact of life that I am “sentence” to death. I will die.
so if I commit a crime and I am “sentence” to death, it becomes
a question of not if I will die, but a question of when. I should be
allowed to then, if “sentence” to die from a crime, to be able to
choose my own method of death. I can choose to partake in Hemlock
if I choose to, and why? I am “sentence”. So I can still have the choice
of method. I can leave this life with a sense of dignity. But one might argue,
a “sentence” of death by the state must involve no choice, it leaves up
to the state as to the method. If I commit suicide in prison and “escape”
the hangman noose, I am accuse of “escaping punishment” and yet the end
result is exactly the same. What does it matter if I kill myself or that I swing
at the end of the noose? How does that matter? It comes down to the
how and means, not the if, for I am already “sentence” to death.
so what does it matter if I choose to end my life on my own terms as in
death with some sort of dignity. I am still going to die. We are left with
the how and means. Personally, I have many years left of life but no matter
how many years that is, the end will be the same, no matter what I do.
Committing suicide is considered a crime and yet, yet I will still die.
How is the when, a crime? I am free and in my freedom, I can choose
to determine my when, my time to fulfill the “sentence” that all
humans are faced with. Christian morality has taken away my freedom
to exercise my freedom to “when” my sentence will be carried out.
Why should religion determine to when I decide to carry out my “sentence”?
For our laws are based upon religious constraints and not upon
the basis of our freedom. I am free to act but my actions need not
be a crime if I exercise my right to decide my “when”.
And this becomes the point… my actions to commit suicide is
considered a crime, but why? Religious concerns only.
My “sentence” will be fulfilled no matter what the state says or does,
the only question becomes “when”. And since when, does time become
a crime?
Kropotkin