This past weekend,
Brittany Maynard decided to end her life. She was not depressed. She was not suicidal. She was terminal.
Earlier this year she was diagnosed with stage 4
glioblastoma, a terminal form of brain cancer. She was given approximately six months to live; her health would rapidly deteriorate. She would experience pain. She would lose control of parts of her body. She would become a burden to her friends and family. Chemotherapy would only prolong the inevitable death, adding its own unique side effects to the mix.
Brittany chose to take control of her own destiny, sparing herself and her friends and family the pain of slowly wasting away. She proactively chose to not be a physical and financial burden, to not suffer.
She chose to die with dignity.
And yet, many people are reacting in a dishearteningly disturbing way which is quickly stripping away that dignity:
"Some people fight until the end and some just quit because they are weak and not fighters."
"Like abortion, suicide is murder. She'll be judged by here Creator God for her actions."
"Next you death-lovers will be hailing a mentally-ill person for murdering themselves."
"Death is something that we all must face in our own time, or you could just take the cowards way out like Brittany."
Oregon, Washington, and Vermont all have enacted legislature (
The Death with Dignity Act) which allows doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs under certain conditions. Brittany and her family moved to Oregon this past summer to take advantage of this.
Knowing that you are going to die and making the concious decision to control your own death is not cowardice, it is maturity. It is honorable.
I understand the comments, the hateful remarks made by Christians. They truly do believe it is horrible, is an affront to their god. When I was a fundamentalist Christian, my own opinion on the matter would have been that people should be prevented from doctor-assisted suicide. In fact,
Dr. Kevorkian, the first true pioneer in this field, lived only a few miles from me in those days, and I used to curse him. Now I grieve that there are not more like him.
I believed, like most fundamentalists, that those who committed suicide would burn in hell for eternity. Why? Because of the illogical argument that suicide is murder, and one cannot ask for / receive forgiveness when one is dead.
Christians believe that "god will never give you more than you can handle." And yet, I can easily point to millions of souls throughout history who suffered to the point of death (Google the Inquisition, Slavery, famine, plague, and third-world starvation).
Regardless, today's post was supposed to be about tomorrow's mid-term elections. I was going to give reasons why everyone should be voting for
Libertarian candidates; but I think that Brittany has more eloquently made my point in the most serendipitous way possible: after all, the Libertarian platform is all about small government and people making their own life decisions.
So, in Brittany's honor, I would like to wholeheartedly thank her friends, family, and supporters; I would like to thank those who enacted the legislation in Oregon, Washington, and Vermont which allowed her to end her suffering; and I would like to cheer-on those who continue to fight for our liberties and freedoms against the increasing tyranny of the fundamentalist movement.
See you in two weeks,
Frank
