Five years ago today, a pop singer jumped off from the 24th floor of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Central Hong Kong. His name is Leslie Cheung. For what kind of person he is, about his history and his career, they can certainly be found in details in the web. I’m not gonna elaborate here. My personal feeling toward this artist is mixed. I really appreciate his performance on stage or on films. I also have many of his CDs and listen to his songs on my iPod every now and then. However, I’ve uneasy feeling towards his death as a result of suicide. Personally, I’ve a very negative feeling of the act of committing suicide.
I always think that life is fragile from the perspective on a macro scale, but life is tough and valuable on personal level. In our nature, animals do whatever they could to try to survive. I don’t think human being behaved anyway different until we have civilization. In our human history, many important people were honor, aside for what they did when they were alive, but also for what they tried to do that relate to their deaths. Some of them committed extremely dangerous acts. We certainly don’t know their mental state when they prepared to do what they did. Namely, did they know that they were gonna die for sure if they do certain things. However, I think there is a difference between those actually doing something great and dangerous, and they end up dead, and someone killed themselves just simply for defending a noble cause. Regardless, I always think that unless you try to save others’ lives, it is not worthy to put yourself into a life-threatening situation if there are alternatives. For an example, if a regular folk saved a kid from a hitting by a car on the street. He ends up dead but the kid is saved. He is hero to me. If he is saving many people in an extreme situation and he ends up dead. He is a martyr. On the other hand, if he is policeman, a fireman, or a soldier, he should be commemorated and honored, but his death is a result of performing his duty which is subjected to the inherited risk. Other than those situations, killing oneself should be not encouraged or honored in any form.
I’m not against some so-called ‘assisted suicide’ by doctors if it is agreed by the patient, the medical authority and the patient’s family to some extent. I think it should be available as a choice legally, but it should not be encouraged. In other cases, any folks that kill themselves, I think that they are making the wrong choice though they might disagree. There is always ‘other’ ways in life. No matter how bad the situation is, if someone just take a deep breath, step back and look around, he should see there are choices. That’s what a person who feels being push to a corner should do.
I always think that life is fragile from the perspective on a macro scale, but life is tough and valuable on personal level. In our nature, animals do whatever they could to try to survive. I don’t think human being behaved anyway different until we have civilization. In our human history, many important people were honor, aside for what they did when they were alive, but also for what they tried to do that relate to their deaths. Some of them committed extremely dangerous acts. We certainly don’t know their mental state when they prepared to do what they did. Namely, did they know that they were gonna die for sure if they do certain things. However, I think there is a difference between those actually doing something great and dangerous, and they end up dead, and someone killed themselves just simply for defending a noble cause. Regardless, I always think that unless you try to save others’ lives, it is not worthy to put yourself into a life-threatening situation if there are alternatives. For an example, if a regular folk saved a kid from a hitting by a car on the street. He ends up dead but the kid is saved. He is hero to me. If he is saving many people in an extreme situation and he ends up dead. He is a martyr. On the other hand, if he is policeman, a fireman, or a soldier, he should be commemorated and honored, but his death is a result of performing his duty which is subjected to the inherited risk. Other than those situations, killing oneself should be not encouraged or honored in any form.
I’m not against some so-called ‘assisted suicide’ by doctors if it is agreed by the patient, the medical authority and the patient’s family to some extent. I think it should be available as a choice legally, but it should not be encouraged. In other cases, any folks that kill themselves, I think that they are making the wrong choice though they might disagree. There is always ‘other’ ways in life. No matter how bad the situation is, if someone just take a deep breath, step back and look around, he should see there are choices. That’s what a person who feels being push to a corner should do.
It is too bad that Leslie did get timely assistance when he needed the most. I always think that he is a great entertainer. He should be remembered for his songs, movies, performance, etc...except for his last art.
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