Recently in my social work class we discussed dying. Fun topic right? :) Well in this class we were talking abut Dr. Kevorkian, euthanasia, and whether one determines their life by quality or quantity. For example, would YOU (yes you reading this) rather die younger in a very quick or painless death while you were still healthy, active, and joyful? Or would you rather live a long life that you age slowly and die in a slower process? We then began talking about euthanasia and if someone has a right to decide when they die. Everyone, literally everyone, said we do not have that right to decide. Whether we become a vegetable or not, we need to let God decide when to take us away.
Although I agree that God is in ultimate control, if it were me and I was a vegetable, I would not want to live. I would rather spare those around me the emotional pain and financial burden of watching me live the remainder of my life as a vegetable. I received some scrutiny from this as others said "Don't you think God is sovereign? Isn't this like committing suicide?" Yes and no. I do believe God is sovereign. If I unplug my life machine and keep on living, obviously God wanted me to keep on living. However, I also believe that God wants his children to be happy. If I were to spend 5-10 years in pain, numb, without any chance of recovery and was miserable, would he not want me to be happy and spend those additional years in Heaven with him? I think God would rather us be pain-free, happy, and enjoying the abundant life He gave us. I believe those who are vegetables deserve a voice in saying whether they want to live this way or not. Think of "Million Dollar Baby" for example.
Now on to the topic of committing suicide and Dr. Kevorkian. The topic at hand was whether people should have a right to decide when they die, and whether assisted suicide should be legal or not. For those who do not know of Dr. Kevorkian, he was "assisting" people in their deaths. They would approach him, he would give them drugs, and they would die. These patients could have been mentally ill, physically ill, or just depressed, and Dr. Kevorkian would help them out. I think that part is wrong. I think that if someone is mentally ill, or so physically ill that it alters their thinking, then it should be illegal for them to decide to die. They are not in the right stable mind to make such decisions. I also question whether those who are healthy and somewhat happy should be allowed to take these drugs in order to die. But my question is, even if this did not exist, it's not like people have no options for killing themselves. They can overdose, drive their car off a cliff, and do any number of things to die. Those are legal, so what is the difference?
I realize how morbid I sound now haha. I am not saying that I agree with Dr.Kevorkian, that I think assisted suicide should become legal, or that people have a right to kill themselves. As a Christian, I think murder is wrong. No matter who it is against. I just have these thoughts bouncing around in my head and want to let them out. If any of my 3 readers want to input an opinion, it is more than appreciated :)
