Good citizens who present absolutely no threat to society find themselves before the courts.
I do not believe we should be liberalizing euthanasia laws - no, human life is sacrosanct and our laws should recognize this fact.
But this gentleman and the doctor a week or so back are not threats to our society, whatever they did or didn't do they will be judged for in the fullness of time by a judge far more competent than any earthly judge as you and I will be also.
In an imperfect world run by imperfect people I'm content to leave it at that.
Why, I ask, can't the authorities just exercise a little common sense and judgement and avoid these show trials that serve no purpose.
I do not believe we should be liberalizing euthanasia laws - no, human life is sacrosanct and our laws should recognize this fact.
But this gentleman and the doctor a week or so back are not threats to our society, whatever they did or didn't do they will be judged for in the fullness of time by a judge far more competent than any earthly judge as you and I will be also.
In an imperfect world run by imperfect people I'm content to leave it at that.
Why, I ask, can't the authorities just exercise a little common sense and judgement and avoid these show trials that serve no purpose.
Andrei,
ReplyDeleteI disagree. A person who aids another in committing suicide is no better than a murderer, no matter how much sympathy they may elicit. That man's wife needed help to live, not help to die. If society lets these sorts of things go, then it opens the door to men helping their troublesome wives to kill themselves, and who will ever know if those women wanted to die or not.
I know where you are coming from Lucyna, I do.
ReplyDeleteBut these are hair splitting cases based upon legal niceties which create martyrs to the cause of further liberalization (I actually suspect that is why they might be being taken to court).
There are going to be all kinds of new battlegrounds open up, this is just one.
ReplyDeleteStap on your armor, it's going to be a rough ride.
"A person who aids another in committing suicide is no better than a murderer"
ReplyDeleteNonsense.
A murderer's victim has no choice--that's why it's murder.
Helping somebody commit suicide can be an act of love, a courageous and compassionate decision.
Killing some one is not an act of love, KG. Especially when you consider what is awaiting them on the other side of death they want you to take their life. Anything that's happening to us while we are alive pales in comparison to that.
ReplyDeleteLucia Maria, maybe spend more time among the indignity of the end game of terminal illness and the grossly injured on life support then give it another shot.
ReplyDeleteTo quote from the lines of the poem on war ; I realised there are worse things than dying. By the man who loved roaming the out back but lost his legs at Galipoli.
That poignancy seems to sum it up for me.
Had a mate who reckoned he had his end game in hand until I pointed out that when he reached that point several things would converge to thwart him:
He may not remember where he had stored the .38 Magnum revolver,
He would have the ammo in another forgotten hiding place.
And even if he surmounted those problems he may well be too weak to pull the trigger or if he did he would probably make a ballsup of it and just make a horrendous mess.
Many of us in full cognisance of the issues do not accept the decision on leaving this world to be anyone else's sphere of responsibility.
I understood you were talking about aiding someone to kill themselves, LM.
ReplyDeleteThere's a difference.
"Killing some one is not an act of love, KG."
If you believe that, then I hope for your sake you never get to witness a situation where it most definitely is.
How about the guard who slips a prisoner who is being horrifically tortured the means to end it, for example? That's actually happened--and you would condemn both the prisoner and the guard.
""Anything that's happening to us while we are alive pales in comparison to that."
I'm glad for your sake you've led a life sheltered enough to allow you to believe that.
Gravedodger,
ReplyDeleteMy Dad died of lung cancer when I was in my early twenties. I was there - flew in on a Friday afternoon, stayed overnight at the hospice, and was there when he died the next morning. He wanted someone to kill him on the Wednesday, but instead of doing that, the hospice staff put him on self-administered morphine.
My best friend committed suicide when I was 14 - I absolutely dead-set against it, and to that end put my utmost into helping the few people I've known that have been suicidal.
No one will ever convince me that it is better to die early to escape a few hours of agony - our deaths are always in God's hands, and to thwart that is to risk eternal damnation - a heck of a lot more painful that how we die here.
KG,
You really need to read Quo Vadis. You can get it for your Kindle, either the free version or the one that costs $1. That'll explain my position on this far more clearly. It's a classic and it's worth reading for that alone.
"You really need to read Quo Vadis."
ReplyDeleteThank you, but no, I don't.
I arrived at my position on this after a series of personal experiences and after nearly fifty years of considering the implications. Unless somebody can explain that the real world has changed recently I'll stick with the position arrived at.