Analysis Of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Jr.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Jr. was a submarine commander and son of Chester Nimitz Sr., a naval hero of the World War II. Nimitz Jr. and his wife, at the age of 86 and 89 respectively, made the tragic news of committing a double suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. In their suicide note, they stated, “We have consciously, rationally, deliberately and of our own free will taken measures to end of lives today because of the physical limitations on our quality of life placed upon us by age, failing vision, osteoporosis, back and painful orthopaedic problems.” In addition, they also claimed themselves as non-religious. Now the question arises regarding the moral or ethical basis of this suicide. In the later part of the essay, we will demonstrate
Again, this idea of harming others brings up other arguments. For instance, based on which points we can judge an act as immoral or wrong, or else, what is the definition of morality or wrongness? Defining morality is difficult. What is moral to one person might not be same to another. However, almost all human beings will endorse one definition of the morality, and that is causing no harm to others. Here, Admiral Nimitz and his wife did not cause any harm to others by suicide. Hence, their death cannot be claimed as immoral. Again, another argument is whether it is right to hurt the feelings of the family and relatives by deliberately ending own life. This argument is not plausible enough, because a death will always be a matter of grief for the family or relatives. In this case, Admiral Nimitz and his wife were suffering from continual fatal diseases. Hence, it would have been more painful for their loved ones to see them die after suffering every day. Another argument that might be raised against this suicide is that what will happen to the people dependent on the person committing suicide, financially or by other means? Although as a human being, we all have duties towards our family, community, and society; however, the amount of responsibilities should not restrain a person from living his/her own life. Therefore, in this case, the suicide of Admiral
Voluntary deaths, in other word suicide, are generally regarded as wrong and unethical way of dying. However, the stereotypical way of judging suicide is itself wrong. Before claiming a suicide case as wrong and unethical act, we must think over the reasons behind that attempt. We cannot call all sorts of suicide as mistaken acts. Before judging a case, we must put ourselves in the shoes of that person and find reasons for his/her acts. We have to understand that life is important to every living being of this world. No one attempts for suicide unless they have tried and failed every other alternatives in solving their problems. A person goes through extensive sufferings before deciding to put an end to life. Therefore, if someone decides to go for eternal rest, we should not criticize it. Everyone should have the right to live as s/he wishes; every human being should have the right to make his/her own choices. Similarly, they should have the complete authority to decide whether they want to end a life before natural death or not. Therefore, considering all these facts, we should not randomly call the suicide of Admiral Nimitz and his wife as unethical and erroneous