Friday, December 14, 2007
In my previous post, I wrote about couples who committed murder-suicide as a last, desperate act to stay "independent" and out of nursing homes. A New York Times article by Daniel Bergner, titled "Death in the Family," is a riveting story about another kind of suicide, a death con...
Carol, your post is touching.
You know, at times the society has this thought of quality life. This seems to imply that if your health or lifestyle is "below standard", then you don't deserve it or that you won't get the maximum benefit so you "need to go". This includes disabled people and bed-ridden patients. Even I myself sometimes may wonder if I want to die with peace instead of dying with extreme suffering.
One thing I know for sure is that we have no right to help people to kill themselves. I know it is complicated but to my simple mind, I don't do that. But if the person chooses not to suffer, it is his/her choice and I don't really think it is a sin or that he/she will go to hell.
That is, we have no right to tell other people how to live but we are free to do it ourselves. Not that people should not help you to keep living. e.g., the police has to help someone to prevent him/her from jumping into the river.
Just my 2 cents.