From: John Grigg (starman2100@lycos.com)
Date: Sat Jun 15 2002 - 17:51:06 MDT
John W Haggerty wrote:
I believe that there are fates that are worse than death or poverty.
Emotional misery can be much worse
(end)
To an extent, I agree with you. There are for instance very poor people in the third world who are relatively happy with their lives. But I think in these cases they generally have enough to eat and a place to lay their head. And perhaps a medical clinic within walking distance, too!
I think that emotional misery could potentially be much worse there than in the developed western world because in most of the third world it is not simply a matter of getting "motivated" to get a better education and job going. Many of these disadvantaged souls are to a large part locked in to their fate. So if you are dealing with emotional misery, try to do it as a citizen of the western world!! I forget who made the famous quote "money may not buy happiness, but I at least want to be miserable in comfort!"
Natasha's reply to John Haggerty:
There is a reprieve for emotional misery John. The deep hell of depression and other anxieties can be alleviated and often to a degree that makes life worth living. It's just a doctor's appointment away. There is also a reprieve for poverty, if a person is willing enough to work hard enough. There is no thoroughly reliable reprieve for the finality of death.
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Just a doctor's visit(AND a prescription for antidepressants!) away! ; ) I do strongly believe the right antidepressant at the RIGHT dosage can do wonders for some people, but these drugs can have very disturbing side effects.
Uncontrollable and spastic facial tics and body movement, sexual dysfunction, insomnia, nausea, and even possible brain damage(in long term use generally) are the very possible side effects. A book I strongly recommend is 'Prozac Backlash' by Dr. Joseph Glenmullen of Harvard. He gives what I consider a balanced, but wary account of what these drugs can do to some people.
she continues:
If a person is suffering greatly, death would be a relief. Yet, unless that suffering is so immense that absolutely nothing could lessen the burden, death remains the ultimate fate.
(end)
For someone dying of bone cancer in the final stages, death would be a relief!! And isn't cryonics a solution(and a gamble, too) that even such suffering could in the end be overcome?
I suspect John Haggerty in his discussion of emotional misery meant the deep pain human beings often sadly inflict on each other. A romantic break-up, unrequited love, a betrayal of one kind or another, these are what can strike people to the core of their being, despite whatever socio-economic strata they reside in. And the pain can be so bad that a part of them wishes they were simply dead. I've been there.
best wishes,
John
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