 |
| By David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Daily Star |
In an
article which I recently read was the sentence: “
A dignified
death completes a good life”. I thought how well that expressed
a thinking person’s attitude to Life! It is one I share and
accordingly, I am getting my act together, through a glass darkly it
must be admitted, to put in place the necessary formalities here, for
euthanasia, should I need it. I am fumbling somewhat only because of
the language difficulty which is serious though not terminally so! It
will be accomplished and though one hopes that the instructions for Nil
by Mouth, and for Euthanasia won’t be necessary, the fact that all
is legally in place in the event of necessity, then that is very
reassuring to a person in her eighties. It is most interesting that,
with age, comes the complete comfort to talk about, consider,
envisage, one’s own death, not a comfortable topic for younger
people normally. When life is no longer a joy; conversation no longer
a possibility; walks in the sun or the rain no longer viable;
reading, an irrelevance, then a dignified end, decided autonomously
by the sufferer in earlier, happier, healthier times, rounds off a
life lived as fully as possible, in a satisfying way.
 |
| By Wasserman in The Wall Street Journal |
It is
salutary to note that Desmond Tutu has managed to reconcile his
belief in the sanctity of life with his call for assisted dying; in
his case, with his expressed desire for his own assisted death should
it be necessary. Lord Carey too, a previous Archbishop of Canterbury,
has publicly supported euthanasia. Both eminent church men
demonstrate compassion and understanding for those in pain, or worse,
at the end of their lives and both live in countries where their
publicly-stated positions are outside the law. When I moved to Brugge
I had no idea that euthanasia had been legalised in Belgium since
2002 and it is an aspect of living here which seems to enjoy huge
support in spite of this being a Roman Catholic country. It is surely
the mark of a civilised nation to have high ideals and the necessary
sophisticated State machinery to enable those ideals to be translated
smoothly into practice. However, Belgium
is in small minority of
countries permitting euthanasia. One thinks of Hamlet and his
‘Oh
that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw and resolve itself
into a dew/ Or that th’ Everlasting had not fixed/
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter.
Oh God, oh God.’
Five hundred years after Shakespeare wrote those words, the same
immutable laws, though now man-made, obtain almost everywhere.
By an
amazing coincidence, my sixteen year old grand-daughter is doing a
school assignment on Euthanasia at present. Brownie points for the
school I reckon; early consideration of difficult topics
is an important aspect of education and offers hope
and enlightenment for society; so shines a good deed in a naughty world!
Not exactly on the same topic but close; I noticed a sweet notice in the window of the Gulliver Tree, a tea room not far from the Markt a couple of weeks ago. The English owner who had founded the place about twenty years ago and nurtured it into a real popularity, had passed away and her grand-children had left a quote from Winnie the Pooh, her absolutely favourite story, with an illustration, in the café window with Oma written below.
The
good life now, was further embellished last evening when a large
group of friends in various amazing fashions [the women, that is; the
men wore DJs] assembled by invitation to play Roulette and Blackjack,
all for no real money, which was comforting. Inexperience
notwithstanding, it was all great fun and I now know that for me,
Roulette is boring [never did get the scoring system!] but Blackjack
is such fun. However, an evening at the casino in Knokke is
not a priority!
Sunday
afternoon, a brief exposure to youthful idealism when I joined the
first beat of the
Pulse of Europe, in the Burg.
Organised by students from the College of Europe situated in Brugge,
it is described as a citizens’ initiative to demonstrate for a
united Europe, and it was replicated simultaneously in 120 other
cities, giving many Europeans the opportunity to express their
opinions and publicly share their values. There was an open mike for
members of the public to express their support for the European
values of peace, individual freedom, justice and human rights. Our
Brugge effort was quite sparsely attended, perhaps by thirty people,
but it was a heart-warming first public demonstration of the
importance of visible support for the concept of a united Europe. The
next meeting, on the first Sunday in December I shall have to miss so
must wait for February for the next available. I do look forward to
it and will make use of the open mike as I missed my chance today.
 |
Great to see so many young people in the
modest group of Euro-devotees.This
was about half of the supporting cast!
|
