It’s my life.
// November 14th, 2009 // Life, Music, World
Rise against inspired me to write this blog post and here’s the music video. I’ve read up on an article found here about this old lady who wants to die. She says it’s “hell on Earth.”
simply because you can breathe,
doesn’t mean you’re alive,
or that you really live,
this life here has taken its toll
and she just doesn’t know how much more she can give…
I believe that everyone deserves a chance to live; the idea of abortion is wrong. However, it should be up to the individual whether they want to live or die. Everyone has a choice. To live or die. To breathe or not to breathe. Everyone has a choice, I think. 
Here is an elderly lady who is suffering from a tumor in your nasal cavity. She has lost her sense of smell, taste and, more recently, sight. Without a doubt it’s a living nightmare…
One of my friend’s dog was put to “sleep” not long ago because his leg was severely cut and the medical bills would have been too costly. Are humans that far different than animals? Animals have feelings and emotions just like humans do. Humans respect other animals and take careful precautions before laying an animal to rest or when putting them to sleep. Why can’t humans do the same for other humans? What makes us so superior that we shall not die? I thought about it and I came up with: morals. Humans have morals, unlike animals. That’s why the average human strongly believes it’s unmoral to take another humans life, but there should be exceptions such as in the animal kingdom and the food chain. Others say it’s playing the role of god? To me, it’s science. And is putting animals to sleep by euthanasia playing the role of god? Or is the work of our morals with the help of science?
Back to this lady, I believe if she wants to die she should be allowed to. “I know now how to get my hands on what I need and if I don’t get it in France, I will get it elsewhere,” she said. It’s very hard to prolong death and if she wants to take the opportunity in a safe, peaceful, controlled environment then why the hell not? It’s better than traditional suicide at any rate.
Back to the Rise Against song…even though this song is sending out a message that basically says don’t live in fear of your potential, it can relate to this lady here. She herself believes she has no more potential left and when you hit rock bottom like she did, her choices may not be very thought out, but everyone should respect her choice on life.
Lastly, do not fear death, but rather inadequate life.
dan you seriously amaze me.
I wanted to get ice cream with you today so we can chat! Jerk. Oh well good thing we didn’t because I probably wouldn’t have written this.
What part do you agree with? What part do you like? Any part you disagree?
where is the last lecture part and achieving your childhood dreams? lol
I didn’t watch that yet. Meet I try to think of my own stuff…it’s better that way
im sorryyyy :[
but my mommy made cookies && i couldnt just leave haha
i promiseee we’ll go over breakkk!
&& i agree with this quote- Lastly, do not fear death, but rather inadequate life.
if youre always living worried you’re going to die,
you wont be living your life to the fullest. everyone should live with no regrets and no fear.
living life inadequately is a much greater tragedy than
dying, because youre not really enjoying your life.
you’re just a wallflower.
you hit it dead on amanda. GO you!
ok let me say this kind of reminds me of an episode of scrubs when there first patients die and jd gets the old lady thats ready to die…..
i really have mixed feelings about this post which i think could become a good argument…
here’s my question
i agree with the part it should be our choice if we want to breathe or not and if we want to be here or not… but what do you think about suicide?
I’m going to go ahead and disagree with you on this one. I am willing to say most people who are contemplating taking their life are in a pretty dark place mentally and are unable to think rationally about who they are and/or how they relate to the world. For example, would you say a teenager who just got dumped by their boyfriend or girlfriend should have the right to decide if it’s ok to kill themselves? In that moment their whole world is crashing down on them and there is nothing left to live for. Yet give them some time to gain some perspective and get their emotions under control and they will laugh at how stupid they were about the whole situation.
Another thing I wonder about is whether or not we are the sole owners of our lives. I am a follower of Christ, so I believe that I am not my own but belong body and soul to him, but even outside of religion, does a person have the right to rob their community, their family, of having a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a friend or teammate.
Tyson,
You’re right that people who are contemplating suicide are in a dark place mentally. Certainly death is, almost by definition, probably the most morbid and dark thing one can think of. I have to say though that I do believe you are at least partially wrong about rationality in such a situation. People can definitely make rash decisions if not enough time is given for contemplation. However, we cannot infringe on an individual’s right to choose their own destiny, if they have, indeed, thought it out.
My proposal is this: require a certain amount of time (say, 90 days) to pass between the act of requesting euthanasia and the granting of the request. This will allow the individual to have time to think it over. Also, perhaps some state-funded psychological evaluation or psychiatric counseling should be required to determine if a person is thinking rationally and/or to help them to do so.
If it turns out that they have thoroughly reviewed all their options in a rational state of mind, and the proper amount of time has passed, then we have no right to deny their request. It is not a certainty that they will “laugh at how stupid they were”. Patients with terminal cancer are still going to have terminal cancer after “gaining some perspective”, and they will probably still want to die. Who are we to force them to stick around and suffer?
Mike,
It is intriguing to me that you would disagree with science on whether someone wanting to commit suicide can think rationally for themselves. Correct me if I am wrong but currently if someone goes to his or her doctor and expresses they want to kill themselves, they are usually understood to be suffering from some type of mental illness like depression. As to the 90 days, I have a friend who struggles with clinical depression and they have tried to wean themselves off their medication to no avail. My friend has accepted he will probably need to be on medication for the rest of his life let alone “90 days”.
To your question “who are we to force them to stick around and suffer?” I would ask what you see the purpose of life to be?
It is intriguing to me that you reference “science” without any sources. How can you possibly make a blanket statement that all people wanting to commit suicide are being irrational? If I’m dying of terminal cancer and it is causing me deep physical pain, and there is no chance for me to recover, I’d say it’s pretty damned rational for me to want to die. How about you? Try to put yourself in that situation. Can you honestly say that it’d be irrational to want to just have the pain be over?
If someone goes to the doctor and says that they want to kill themselves, they will likely be given some sort of psychological evaluation before it is concluded that they are suffering from a mental illness. It is certainly possible for people without mental illnesses to have contemplated suicide. Case-in-point: me. It’s simple – I’m self-aware enough to know that I don’t have a mental illness and never have, and yet, I have contemplated suicide at several points in my past. (For the record, it has been a VERY long time since I’ve had these thoughts, so nobody freak out please.) Therefore, it is certainly possible for mentally normal people to want to kill themselves.
The 90-day comment was merely a proposition. The larger idea is that each situation should be looked at independently (on a case-by-case basis) to determine whether there is any reason to deny a person’s request for euthanasia. There needs to be some sort of mechanism to catch the people who are not being perfectly rational about their decision.
As for the purpose of life, I don’t think that there’s a single answer that can be extended to everybody. I believe that each person will naturally find their own place in the world and will discover their purpose on their own. If someone has rationally determined that they have done all they can in this life, then they have served their full purpose, and should be allowed to pass on to the next world if they so choose.
i really like what both mike and tyson said