Trigger warning: this article discusses in-depth the experience of suicidal ideation.
I have been working on some pretty fun pieces for you in between other projects. I’ve been going through somewhat of a creative springtime as the weather has forced me indoors and looking for new ways to rest productively.
On a related note, if anyone wants a loaf of sourdough, my starter Lorenz-dough is at your service.
But there’s something that I’d like to lean into today in a somewhat informal, but serious, matter: I am deeply, deeply disturbed by the proliferation of physician-assisted death in our country.
In May, the governor of my home state of Delaware passed a medical aid-in-dying bill after the previous governor, a Democrat, vetoed it according to his conscience. Within the past week, the governors of Illinois and New York have signed bills that make physician-assisted suicide legal, making 13 states with such laws.
A few months ago I reviewed “Living and Dying Well: A Catholic Plan for Resisting Physician-Assisted Killing” by Charlie Camosy and I highly recommend reading my review(and his book) as a primer on the Catholic Church’s teaching and the beliefs that I personally hold. The realities surrounding euthanasia are complex and emotional, but life is beautiful and taking to heart the reality that life is never a burden has far-reaching implications for our world.
I am not writing to you today to present arguments about the dignity of human life or the reality that giving and taking life belongs to God alone, though.
Instead, I am writing this as someone with serious mental illness who is experiencing very real confusion as lawmakers, healthcare workers, and keyboard warriors celebrate suicide.
I have written somewhat about my own experience with mental illness, and if you follow me on social media you likely have a broad understanding of what I have gone through. Some may feel that I share too much, which is funny to me because in reality I only share a tiny snapshot of what it is really like to live with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
There is something that I have not written about extensively, perhaps because it is something I am still working through and because it carries quite a bit of shame for me, especially as a Catholic. I have never written about the times my mental illness has led me to consider, and in some cases attempt, taking my own life.
More: https://x.com/jdflynn/status/2001872158172360877?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
