Why is suicide referred to as unnatural death?

This post is not going to invoke the deeper philosophical question about what is natural and what is unnatural. Instead, it is going to critique the categorization of suicide as unnatural death under the accepted and commonly used definitions of natural and unnatural. 

What is natural death? Roughly speaking, it is when one or more systems of the body fails to perform its' functions to an extent that is required for sustenance of life. One can die of 'natural' causes when heart or liver or kidneys give up. Sometimes more than one system fails leading to multi organ failure. Why is the brain discriminated against then? If someone's brain gives up due to depression and therefore takes his or her own life, how did it suddenly become unnatural? If heart gives up, then the body does not receive blood thereby cannot get oxygen resulting in death. If brain gives up, it uses it's signaling mechanism to signal to hands to tie a rope around the neck and tighten it (the example of hanging is used here but the idea any can extended to any form of suicide). This results in cutting off the supply of oxygen resulting in death. I do not see much difference between a heart giving up and a brain giving up. I am against this discrimination against brain. Brain is like any other organ and its failure is no more unnatural than failure of other organs.

P S - This argument can be extended even to death due to accidents. I think accidents are a 'natural' part of our existence and so should be categorized as natural death. I can accept homicide as unnatural. One can argue that the ill intentions of another person resulting in one's death is also natural but that is at a philosophical level which I don't intend to consider for this blog post.

When people give birth to a child, are they JUST giving birth to a 'child'?

 

When you graduate high school and planning to go to college, would you say, 'I am planning to do college' or 'I am planning to hang out with friends for the next 4 years'? (Well, in some cases college might just be about that!!). It might be true that college life consists of hanging out with friends but that is not all college life is about. College has both good and bad aspects - low on money, high on stress, learning new things, meeting new people so on and so forth. Saying 'I am planning to hang out with friends for the next 4 years' is not untrue but inadequate and misleading because it does not encompass everything that goes in a college life. At most it might be representing 10% of college life. Continuing on, when you graduate college and planning to start work, would you say, 'I am planning to start working at a firm' or 'I am planning to earn money and spend it every month'?  It might be true that working leads to earning money which in turn leads to spending it, but that is not all work life is about. Work has both good and bad aspects - financial freedom, career development, sucking up to boss, boredom, so on and so forth. Saying 'I am planning to earn money and spend it every month' is not untrue but inadequate and misleading because it does not encompass everything that goes in work life. I do not want to put a number but earning and spending is a fraction of work life. The overall point I want to make with these two examples is, if we focus on what is convenient to us and paint a picture, we are misleading everyone including ourselves. 

But why do we do this mistake so often when it comes to giving birth to a human being? Are we giving birth to a child or bringing a new human being into existence? Of course, the way to bring a human being into existence is by giving birth to a child but that is not the end of it. If at all, it is just the beginning of it. The childhood phase is at most 10% of a human being's lifespan. A human's life has both good and bad aspects - childhood, love, friendships, achievements, adventure, diseases, mental illness, addictions, so on and so forth. Why the focus is on the unblemished, cute, lovely 10% of life and not the possible troubles associated with the rest of the life? I am not saying an adult life is always filled with troubles. But a child's life is surely not an accurate representation of an entire human being's life. So, when people give birth to a child, they are NOT JUST giving birth to a child. They are bringing a human being in its entirety to existence. And a human being is not just the unblemished cute, lovely face of a child. If at all, it is quite the opposite!!

Barriers to honesty - Cont

If you have noticed closely, at times we find ourselves using the prefix "honestly" before a sentence. For example - "Honestly, this is a fine dish you have prepared". So, what is the difference between "Honestly, this is a fine dish you have prepared" and "This is a fine dish you have prepared"? I am sure there are many circumstances where one may use the term honestly as the prefix, but this post is about people using the term in situation like the one I have given above.

My cynical take is, when we give compliments, our baseline has some dishonesty built into it. When we compliment someone, we are never true to ourselves completely. We inflate our compliments by a small bit so that the other person does not feel bad. When your spouse dresses for an occasion and ask for your rating, and you say 7.5/10, how often do you exactly mean 7.5? In my opinion, often times, it only means a 6.5 or 7 and we add an extra amount to it, so your spouse feels better. But we cannot overdo it. Because saying a 10/10 might give away the obvious dishonesty. With this background, what can you do when you actually encounter a situation which warrants a 9.5/10? You say - "Honestly, this deserves a 9.5/10". If you just say, "This deserves a 9.5/10", you cannot differentiate between your usual dishonest compliments and a genuine compliment which you want to give. The prefix "honestly" is the one which differentiates that. It is required for the honest ones to stand out among our usual dishonest ones.

Honestly, .............................. Nah, I do not have anything to be honest about for now. I will return to my dishonest self.