I've thought a lot more about your post and the suggestion it was selfish to take their own lives and I am wondering why it might be.
this is what is selfless about it - they are not attached to their egos and their importance to the world to believe their continued existence made the slightest difference
they said their goodbyes to everyone who had been solidly in their lives and so we all had a chance to grieve and then gather ourselves and say goodbye with love. in fact their loss is a lot less sad because of the time and the quality of the farewells. they had talked about it for a long time so their children were prepared.
they left no mess. everything was cleaned up and orderly. there was no chance of squabbling about money or things as they were in control of the process. no house to clean up, no items to wonder what to do with, no money to lawyers in settling a will and no funeral fees and expensive coffins. No pain and grief for the one left behind. They felt complete and they finished their last days in joy and on holiday, divested of everything but their last few underpants and a couple of shirts and trousers.
They placed no burden on the tax payer or aged care facilities and they placed no burden on anyone else.
In many ways their death was in fact the ultimate in self sacrifice.
yet most people are too frightened of dying and what might await them, they cant give up their ego and many live in their physical bodies way beyond their ability to function mentally and physically.
if you have observed death enough times for many it is a matter of will to die. there is a point - however short, where the person makes a choice and literally gives up the ghost. it is a visible process for those willing to watch. it is not god taking them but them going - whether to god, or hell or eternal nothing or another reincarnation.
why do some hang on - those who decry everything about the world, or others, their country, humans and their own body. I have known such. yet they persist when they could actually make an active choice. it is not for others they stay but for themselves.
