assisted suicide clinics???

[Infidel Castro]

Originally posted by evil tendencies
I\'ve always thought that our lives don\'t belong to just ourselves. We are given a life for a reason, and I firmly believe that sometimes that reason is to show others how to deal with pain through grace.

An uncle of mine died of cancer 11 years ago, and his loss still hurts. Some of his friends advised him to take the quick way out - there was no hope, and we all knew it - but he refused. Instead, he spent his last few months exhorting me to change my life. Seeing him there like that...those words will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I can\'t imagine the awful spot I\'d be in if he had chosen to end his life before the pain. I\'m a better man because he didn\'t.

Powerful stuff, fair play!

However, this is one experience out of many. There are many other negative experiences that would leave a person unable to pass on that kind of encouragement. Alzheimers disease is one that robs a person of dignity and faculties. Who would want to be a vegetable? That\'s the personal choice, and one that should be discussed ahead of time. If these things ever become acceptable, there\'ll have to be ways of registering wishes ahead of possible life-changing circumstances.

Whichever way you look at it, the further it goes the more likely it is that life can become devalued and people may feel pressured to take an assisted suicide route just to avoid becoming a burden, which would be incredibly sad.

Unfortunately, society has progressively undervalued the elderly. There was a time in our society when older people were the source of knowledge and wisdom. These days the elderly are viewed as a burden on government money. It\'s an incredibly sad state of affairs.

Anyway, back to the OP, any steps made towards assisted suicides should be taken with great care. I don\'t dispute that people should have the choice, but the knock-on effects could be huge.