Nobody wants people to be able to escape from the control of the state by killing themselves. This maybe why sucide is a third rail of American politics. You are simply not allowed to talk about it, explore it, or even question it. You can't wonder about methods or the ideas about it. So what is it like to die? Why is it so difficult? And why would you want to do that? Senator Ed Muskie's comments on the Attica Prison Riots might be instructive:

We have reached a point in America, where men would rather die then live another day in America.

The first question deals with deciding whether or not to commit yourself to that life path. It's not an easy question to decide even for the so-called psychopath in our society. Whatever the individual's choice is it permanent assuming that it is successful. Next we have to ask how does one go about acting upon their choice? People have inevitably tried every method, with many of them failing in the process. Some inevitably are more immoral then others or should be banned as they negatively effect other individuals.

Reading about the Burt Browne sucide made the author think about the many places we've seen sucide in the past. People have hanged themselves in barns, jumped off the Northern Boulvard bridge, shot themselves deep in the woods, and jumped off Niagra Falls. It's happened at work, at school, and at play. It seems like such a natural process. You have to be more critical of some individuals then others for their choice of location. Was it a place of slavery or romance? Did they escape some evil power like the state, or something deeper in themselves as individuals? It's hard to ever know as sucide is so personal and much dies with an individual.

There is strong penalities in law against even thinking or writing about sucide. The author realizes that this essay might run afowl of Mental Hygeine Law 9-43. More stringent penalities exist for bonafide sucide attempts assuming that they are unsucessful. Statistics show that most sucides are rather unsucessful, and that many people are punished by our other justice system consisting of Mental Hygeine Law and overpriced psychistrists who claim to understand mankind better then god.

It seems as though the tragity of Burt Browne suggests one thing: if you die before your totally free, then you'll never become free. We live in a society that rejects total freedom. Instead of freedom creating a hierachy of power that tries to dominate our every part of our life. Paul Clyne might just being the living death of freedom. We must cry for the death of Burt Browne.