"Nana!"
"Nanaaa!"
"Can she even hear us?"
"I don't know. Can she even see us?"
"Nana?"
***
This is definitely not a memory I plan on haunting my grandchildren with. Living to the point where you cant hear, see, walk, play with your great-grandchildren or even remember who your loved ones are is simply mortifying. Your not living anymore your just existing. One minute you're flying as high as a kite and out of nowhere someone has shot you down and you're completely powerless to stop it, you desperately reach out for that light at the end of the tunnel but its too late you've already hit the ground. I dont wanna hit the ground, I'd rather die flying.
Euthanasia is not a disease, it's not the name of your Mums' medicine, it's not the name of a force you thought you learnt in Physics, it's a different name for 'assisted suicide', a choice thousands of people struggle to come to terms with. A lot of people resort to Euthanasia for many reasons; lost loved ones, terminal diseases, alzheimers, even a pact made between lovers. Although many may yearn for Euthanasia, it's not legal in most places and beyond any doubt it is not an easy process.
But shouldn't we be the ones that decide what we do with our lives and our bodies? Obviously not! Some would rather us burn at the stake because of their religious beliefs, but who gave them the right to affect the choices we make. Some religious people consider suffering to be "a special grace", a "particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ." Everyone's entitled to their own opinion and YES we know God gave us life and he's the only one who should take it away from us, but what if we want to decide when our time is up. Why continue to live the life of a zombie?
Take Peter and Penny Duff for example; they were an extremely pro-active couple, friends described them as a "vibrant and energetic" couple, always out walking the dogs and full of such enthusiasm. So imagine their shock when they were both diagnosed with terminal cancer, one minute they're incessantly running around without a care in the world and the next they're condemned to the four walls of their hospital ward. Is that where you'd wanna spend your last days? So instead of dragging on their preordained deaths they travelled to the Dignitas Clinic in Zurich with their childrens blessings and passed away peacefully. Not your typical happy ending but exceedingly far more pleasant than "They spent years in and out of hospital completing several treatments of chemotherapy. Nothing seemed to help though, their health continued to deteriorate as well as their physical abilities," . . . don't you think?
I know Euthanasia is definitely a controversial topic because of peoples' beliefs, religions, also the struggle and hardships forced on your friends and family because of your choice, but realistically thinking you dont know shit about what YOU would do if you were perhaps diagnosed with dementia; a disease that bascially turns you into a vegetable once its run its course. Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, strongly disapproves of comments such as mine though. She believes "Dementia patients can live quite comfortably when cared for properly." Baroness Warknock slammed this comment with there were many people who "sank into dementia when they would very much prefer to die." A little harsh but oh so true! Once you have dementia everything in your body is minimised, from memory to ability. You are reduced to a raisin and become a burden to those you love (even though they will deny that)!
We can all sit here and pretend we know what we would we do and that we would never resort to Euthanasia but in all honesty WE DONT! WE HAVE NO IDEA! And neither you or I have the right to judge anyone who undergoes Euthanasia because we don't know the circumstances or the pain that entails this forbidden journey.
But we cannot seek guidance to leave it
A paradox obtuse and equivocal
Legalism dictates rights along a continuum
What if our forefathers were wrong?
Promulgated on the sick and infirmed
Hi Stevee
ReplyDeleteYour topic is debating. Euthanasia is not legal in my country and i have not heard anything about it in my country. But outside my country, it happens. It hurts me a lot how people do this. It is impossible for me to watch this. However, in the countries where it is practiced and legal, they can take their own decision on this matter. It also happens where Euthanasia is common, but not legal. I think sometimes people can misuse this freedom by showing that it is necessary. It depends on how people think about it in those countries.