Euthanasia is a divisive topic. It is an emotionally charged topic. Any circumstance that deals with death seems to be taboo. As a community and a civilisation, we seem to be afraid of death and dying. Facing our immortality has a strong hold on most of us.
I do not hold those views.
I am not afraid of dying or of those close to me passing on. There is no doubt that the death of my nearest and dearest will hurt. I can't predict how I will respond to such an event, but the one thing I know is that as a concept, death doesn't have a paralysing hold on me. The arguments pro-euthanasia seem logical to me, as does the respect for someone who choses suicide.
There is a wonderful sonnet by John Donne called "The Holy Sonnets", which I learnt in high school. It helped shape my views on death:
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."
In Australia the issue of euthanasia has recently returned to the public conscious. Philip Nitschke, a long term advocate for the right to legal euthanasia has been in the news again which has reinvigorated the public debate on this issue.
I read this article today in the Melbourne Age which was beautifully written and very insightful about a man who has spent his life caring for the dying. Irrespective of where you stand on euthanasia, I think Ray Godbold's story is one that is worth reading.
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