I think the opening volley in the assisted suicide debate summed it all up for me in one go. Quicker than Murray's tennis match yesterday (does that make him English or merely British I wonder) was 'game. set and match'. "I want to chose how and when I die," is the defining statement.
Not only do people want to live their lives for themselves, making their choices and living them out for themselves (which makes sense for I guess it is the pinnacle of being selfish) but they also want to decide when they've had enough and depart this life when and how they want also. The cherry on a the cake that is a life dedicated to self I suppose. Only to be expected for if there was no place for God in their life why on earth should they leave the issue of it ending to Him either?
I also have to confess a wry smile at Sir Terry Pratcett's comment that he was ashamed that people had to, "Drag themselves to Switzerland at some considerable cost," to die. After all, let's be honest about it, they weren't coming back and they couldn't take it with them so surely the cost was the least of the issues before us! I was also a little bemused and greatly saddened by a phone-in comment where the caller said that the programme was 'great television' and how they hoped that they'd make another. Well one of the cast is no longer with us and the concept of watching someone end their days, whether it be at their own behest, at the hands of terrorists or at a public execution is, in my book, no spectator sport and so does not constitute 'great television' at all.
Then again the discussion and documentaries being no longer what they were (have you seen the circus that is 'Question Time' these days) and given that we need to see rather than discuss and create the images in our heads (another success for the educational system - my kids watched videos of books because it was 'cheaper and quicker' - God help us!!!0.
So if you wish to live, and die, as you choose then that's obviously you're prerogative. If there's no place for God in your doings and your done (still has a hand in your coming if you can duck the abortionists in this 'life is cheap world of ours') the sadly I see no place for you in his 'Come Again' bit either. You makes your choices and you live (or in this case) die with the consequences.
Seems that as the effects of the Judeo-Christian legacy of this country are diminished, so too are the esteem in which life is held and the dignity that some seek removed.
A sad bit of television and a sad indictment on today's attitudes to life and living and a reflection of the idyll that Flaubert (wrongly) paints:
"Just a little sleep and no more!" Yeah, right at so many levels :(
Pax
4 comments:
The thing that always springs to mind when I hear this debate is The Lord giveth and the lord taketh away. - Job 1:21.
Life is a precious gift and having been given that gift by God, it's particularly bad manners to reject it.
I'm in sympathy with those suffering and their families. It must be heart breaking and soul destroying for all involved. But faith and hope are part of my makeup and I just cannot countenance, suicide whether assisted or not.
Sadly, suicide is a common occurrence, but we tend to try to ignore it. I had a friend who committed suicide and I can still, some 30 years later, remember the distress and damage it caused his family, who simply could not understand WHY!
In the end, as you say every individual has the choice and free will to end their life, but for me, it seems to be a slightly selfish decision, particularly for those left behind.
I haven't watched it. I keep thinking to watch it, and then can't bring myself to do so.
The descriptive words that keep cropping up on blogs are: 'creeping' and 'sinister'.
I read elsewhere:
21% of those dying in the Zurich clinic do not have terminal or incurable diseases at all, they were described as 'weary of life'.
Now this disturbs me more than anything else.
All it takes is a severely depressed individual. Severe depression is characterised by the belief that they've always been depressed, and always will be. This is part of the disease and is of course not true.
However, this sort of 'service', would see many of our mentally ill brothers and sisters die prematurely.
Sickening.
And nobody can tell me that the mentally ill would be weeded out, as at the end of the day this about money for the 'provider'.
Great (and frightening) points guys - seems to me that 'weariness' is perhaps becoming a terminal disease and that is a very sad state of affairs indeed.
Pax
Suicide is very often quite a brutal way to end your life. I have had one person I know leave wife and children without a note and committed suicide. The effect on his family has been particularly traumatic.
Don't know if you read this blog by Christian Medical Comment. Very chilling.
http://pjsaunders.blogspot.com/2011/06/twenty-facts-we-are-unlikely-to-learn.html
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