Quote:
Originally posted by Moiraine:
Very good reasoning, Yorick.
But sometimes the only choice you have is between one 'evil' and another ... Take mercykilling, for example. What if the person has asked you to kill him/her if he/she was to live as a vegetable ? If I asked that of you, would you do it ? I already asked that to my husband, if I happen to lose my mind from Parkinson or Alzheimer disease, I don't want to make the life of the people I love miserable, I don't want to be remembered as someone who peas under herself, I don't want to have people I love cry because I don't recognize them, I want to be killed if that happens ! Would it be 'evil' to kill me then ?
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Then the dilemma of that situation lies in determining what is anothers benefit. In cases of intense pain, all that I have felt when under such excruciation is it to stop under any circumstances. When I had pluracy and breathing was agony, all that mattered was the agonies cessation. At another time when I lost half my blood supply and had to get transfusions and multiple tests I had feelings of desolation and confusion and a desire for everything to stop.
My point being that psychologists will tell you to avoid making a life decision during times of crisis. Deciding to end your life during a period of intense illness would constitute such a scenario.
Also menatlity plays a large role in healing. The sick need their loved ones urging them to fight, to stay, that they are loved, needed. Not that the option of ending it exists for no-one wants to be a burden. My wife was under extraodinary duress when I was ill, and my Mother when my father was recently ill. The last thing I wanted to be was a burden to my wife and family, but their love was communicated incredibly. I made sure I then communicated such love to my father upon his illness.
My grandfather has parkinsons, and I cherish every moment I get with him, and curse that there aren't more. He still has a role in my life and I identify with him very strongly as we share many interests.
My great grandfather lived till he was 99 and at the end had Alzheimers so badly he couldn't recognise his wife or daughter. He could still pray though, and when he did he'd recount bible verses and display such love for his creator, that it left a marked impression on me to this day.
Everything in nature clings to life. If a human at any stage desires the cessation of such life, surely the greater benefit for them is to rectify their situation or make the last steps more bareable rather than assisting their surrender to the inevitable.
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O.K..... what do I do now?
A fair dinkum laughing Hyena!