Blogging Around

Merrick's blog post was about suicide, and whether or not we have the right to our lives.

Merrick this was an excellent post. I completely understand and respect your opinion, but I also disagree almost one hundred percent.

Life is a gift, but is existence itself a gift? To what degree should quality of life play a role in suicide regulations and your opinion of whether or not you have the right to your own life? Being raised Christian, I understand how Darrell and Merrick feel about God's greatest gift to us being life. but, for some people life a burden. Take for example someone that is paralyzed in a car accident from the neck down. Their quality of life is extremely low. Granted some people in this situation find new passions in life, many fall into depression. They can no longer do anything for themselves or lead any form of a "normal" life. They cannot even bathe themselves. For an adult that is completely degrading.

This applies to the terminally and chronically ill as well. If we keep them alive using our medicine and technology are they truly living, or are they merely existing? We need to realize that not everyone has the mental resiliency or faith in God to bear a life of such burden. Some people would honestly be happier if they didn't have to fight through the everyday battles life. I full heartedly believe that you have the right to your own life. Although suicide is selfish and tragic, it can be acceptable. People with incurable conditions that will force them to suffer physically or mentally through the rest of their lives should have the choice of whether or not they are up for the fight.

Chelsea's blog post described the terms of intimacy in our relationships.

I think I agree with you Chelsea, and Anna a little bit too. We definitely have a lack of intimacy in most high school relationships, like Anna pointed out. But with divorce rates at almost fifty percent, I think you're onto something Chelsea. A lot of criticism is put on our culture for our relationships and friendships lacking intimacy and being left to technology, and usually those arguments annoy me. But, I am starting to connect the dots and see that there must be a connection divorce rates and our culture.

You also brought up names, and how we address our most intimate friends by their names. Out of curiosity I decided to test this theory and go through my text messages and see how many people I actually addressed by name. Other than my family, and closest friends, I never referred to anyone else by name. Great insights Chel!