Suicide in the eyes of those who judge
Many claim that in relation to suicide, the only
responsible position is on the one hand to unapologetically condemn suicide
itself as an evil act while refraining from judging the specific culpability of
the individual. We have not only no “right” to judge the state of his soul, we
have no ability to do so. But having no ability to judge it does not mean we
have no right to. We have rights we cannot avail of because of things we do not
or cannot know.
To say you do not judge the act
for you don't know what pressures the person was under is to admit that if you
knew they could have done more to help themselves and thus they are culpable
that you would judge them. You are not actually judging but you are
potentially judging. In a way it is less offensive for somebody to be
certain you stole a bag of sweets only than for them to argue that they don't
know what you were up to and when you took the sweets you could have been taking
loads of stuff. Potential judgement is nearly as bad as blatant judgement.
It is blatant in its own way.