Mr Seah Yam Meng claims that society should offer euthanasia as an alternative to reduce the high rate of elderly suicide (Consider legalising euthanasia; Aug 1).

However, euthanasia should not be legalised because it is just a glorified form of suicide.

Just because it involves an official document and a doctor does not change the fact that someone is in such a dark and lonely place that he has decided his life is not worth living.

We have to work on creating a community that will help people find a reason to keep living, not give them a quick "solution" to end all their problems.

By legalising euthanasia, the responsibility is pushed on to the person in question, not the people around who could make a change.

This would make euthanasia seem ideal to the uninvolved because this places them on a moral high ground.

It is an easier way to deal with illness and suffering.

Last, it is illogical to compare putting down animals with euthanasia for humans.

Animals do not have a say in ending their lives, their owners do.

Often, we focus on our pain instead of how we can come out of it stronger.

I cannot imagine the pain that terminally ill people go through, but I believe that if they put up a good fight, they would be an inspiration to others who are battling the same illness to keep fighting.

To fight is to take a gamble on your life, but to not do so is to guarantee death.

Rachel Tan Poh Yin, 19

Undergraduate student