Socrates, condemned to death by the people of his city. Friends worked to help, and suddenly he had a choice, a chance to run away. Socrates is by now old, and rather than run, chooses to stay and drink the prescribed hemlock. He assured his students that he is more than a physical body, and his ideas will live on. But he did have a choice. Was this suicide?
Young woman, pregnant, boyfriend does not want it, pressure to abort; parents against. she is confused. Her boyfriend, angry, nasty, why doesn't she get the operation? Slams the door, gone. She cries. Looks at her phone, takes many sleeping pills. Looks at her phone again, decides to call her mom, lifts her phone, it slips from her fingers. She never wakens. Is this suicide?
Jesus brought before Jewish high priests, accused of blasphemy, he clams to be a Messiah, healed on the sabbath, drove demons from a woman, causes confusion among the faithful. Jesus now puts upa poor and no defense, mainly silent, or retorts, You have said it, with their own accusation. Next day, brought before Pilate, the Roman governor. Again the accused is silent. The people demand the death penalty. The verdict is carried out, and Jesus is crucified, along with 2 others. He dies on the cross. According to many Christians, Jesus was the Son of God, with powers of God. If he had the power to stop the crucifixion, and did not do so, was this a suicide?
I have lived a long life, and have crossed many bridges. I have also burnt my bridges behind me. Now, when things go awry, I no longer have a bridge to jump from. Perhaps, this is a good thing.
After the crucifixions of the 3, the body of Jesus was taken to the large tomb of a wealthy sympathizer. There were other caskets in the large tomb some relatives of the gentleman, some from before he purchased it. To protect them all, when finishing the process of the body, a large stone was placed to close the tomb. and night had already fallen. A few followers of the heretic, mainly women arrived outside the tomb, and prayed. The dark clouds of the day had blown away, and the moon shone brightly above the deserted area. All was quiet. Suddenly, some thought they heard, like a stone or something quite heavy move. One woman praying; gasped, and others woke. Now they all heard more movement. Then they saw, a hand now outside engaged in pushing the huge stone aside. The heartbeats of the followers were racing, and their faces filled with amazement. Then one man shouted - NO! And began to run away. Soon, all were following the man running, some almost tripping with their garments. The man who emerged from the tomb was surprised, and wondered, were they expecting me? Why did they run? I am back, Drac, he coughed to get some of the dust from his throat, as he'd been asleep for a decade. He thought, I must go hunting soon to quench my thirst before the sunrise.
This is my homage to E,C. comic books that I read as child/young teen. They were sometimes, mere ok, but sometimes quite thought provoking.----HUGH MURRAY
Another anecdote. It was about my first year at Tulane U. and I was in a class studying the German language. Our professor, U. Fehlau, was discussing Goethe's Faust, the Prolog as I recall, where God and the Devis converse. At some point, God laughs. Fehlau then remarked, how unusual, for we never think of God laughing. I then blurted out for all to hear, that is so we can distinguish Him from Santa Claus. The professor began to breathe heavily, and said slowly, Mr. Murray.
In my junior year, probably around spring 1959, I entered the university oratory contest. My title, "Look Not to Outer Space." I discussed some recent films in which world peace was brought about either by the good advice of friendly visitors from other worlds, or earthlings united to fight hostile invaders from outer space. My point was if we earthlings were to have peace, we would have to work for it ourselves, and not count on aid from other planets on from the heavens. I won the gold medal. I may have been ahead in the notty trend, which reached its crescendo during John Kennedy's 1961 inauguration, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
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