The Right to Die, The Will to Live

I know that not everyone agrees with me.  Some never will.  That is okay.

In the last months, there was a fair amount of media attention given to Brittney Maynard.  She was the young lady that publically announced her decision to end her life on November 1 because on an inoperable brain tumor.  She wanted to take control of the situation and die with dignity, on her own terms.

The brought up a lot of emotions for me.

First, this whole area falls into a realm of social issues that Billy says I don't have a clear stance on.  Not true I say.  He says these times are those when he thinks I should have been a politician.

I very strongly believe that life is not ours to take.  The Ten Commandments say Thou Shalt Not Kill.  To me, that is self as well as others.  You don't do it.  As a child I learned in Sunday School that only God knows the number of our days.  In my childlike innocence I always envisioned an enormous book on a lectern, Book of Life inscribed in gold lettering on the front leather cover.  Each morning God would stand before the book and turn the page, a new date written at the top in fancy, cursive script.  If your name was on the list for that day, that was then your last day.  If not, you were good for one more.

It was not up to us to change that day.

I've had two family members with glioblastomas, which is what I believe Mrs. Maynard also had.  My cousin lived over 10 years with hers, and died from something unrelated.  Still very young, but way past the 18 months prognosis that is usually given.  My stepfather lived with his 19 months.  And live he did.  

God can work miracles.  But only if we are still here for him to do so.  By deciding on her own what her final day would be, she denied Him the opportunity to do something wonderful if He had so chosen.  She had no idea what God's plan was for her.

Now the flip side.  I do understand wanting to make that choice.  To avoid the illness.  To spare your family.  To leave while your children still have happy memories to cling to.  I was visiting a nursing home with my mother and seeing a special patient that did very little but lay in bed all day, not cognizant of her surroundings or aware of visitors or even in possession of most of her mental faculties.  The comment I made that day was that most people would not allow their dog to live like that.  (Side note, I 'm not a fan of pet euthanasia either.  But that's for another day.)  And that is a true statement.  Pets get old, incontinent, ill and the owners decide to end their suffering and have them humanely euthanized.  If we do that to people, even under the same circumstances, it is called murder.

But people can do it for themselves.  Dr. Korvorkian went to jail to defend the right of someone to assist with suicide - even if it just to provide the pills.  We all have the right to make that choice.

And that is my point.  It IS a choice.  So while my personal choice is life and life only, I recognize that it IS my choice.  No one can tell me what I can and cannot do with my body and soul.  Now, if someone approached me with with this question I would do all I could to encourage them to stick it out, live evey second of every day until God turns the page to your day.  I feel the same about abortion.  In my mind, it is wrong.  I fall into the camp that allows for a few exceptions - I can't understand what the point would be to allow a mother to die to save a child that will not have the mother to raise it that it needs - but in the majority of cases it is unacceptable to me.  Again, if I had a friend or loved one facing this decision I would do all I could to promote life, adoption, whatever but in the end, it is the choice of the person whose life is being effected.  It is not my place to decide for them.  It is choice that they should have the right to make.

But as they say, just because you can doesn't mean you should.  I have the right to wear a two piece bathing suit if I want, they make them in my size, but that is not something I choose to do.  It would be an inappropriate decision.  I think I was also bothered by the publicity of Mrs. Maynard.  If you want to make that choice, why did it have to be splashed on late night television and magazine covers?  It should have stayed as it started, a private decision.  One between her and her family.

 I know of people with terminal cancer that refused treatment.  Some would argue that is not much different.  That they allowed themselves to die rather than do all they could to live.

 Is that much different from taking a lethal dose of pills?

 I maintain that it is, and it goes back to what I said earlier.  God can work miracles.  But you have to be here to receive them.