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The Right To Die Should Be A Personal Matter
by: David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
I believe that the right to die should, in most cases, be a personal matter and not a political matter (I am talking for adults, not for children. Children, and I include teenagers in this, have not lived long enough and do not have enough life experience to decide their own fates. Some of them think the world is at an end if they get a bad grade or a pimple.). I disagree with the politicians that believe that it is the right of the government, state or federal, to decide if I have "the right to die" on my own terms.
Prosecuting Doctors or others for helping someone achieve their goal in a painless way or for assisting them when they can't do it themselves is just a means of stopping people from exercising their freedom to decide their own fate. Doctors are supposed to be here in order to help alleviate pain and suffering. For some politician to decide that he or she knows better than the patient and his or her doctor is the ultimate exercise in ego. Politicians are not gods and they should not have the right to enforce their beliefs on others. If a person is capable of ending their life on their own they can do so, as no law can punish them after they are dead. Therefore, the only way that politicians can force their beliefs on others is to make it illegal for Doctors or loved ones to assist someone who can not do it on their own. This forces the person to live no matter how great the suffering.
I don't want to die right now, but if I did, I would hate the thought that a group of politicians, who don't know me or know my circumstances, could force me to keep on living, because they think that they know what's best for me. It's my life and the only one that should be allowed to decide what's in my best interest, is me. As long as I'm not harming others, it should be my decision as to how to live my life and as to when and how I end my life. For strangers to be allowed to make those decisions for me, is to me, just plain wrong.
For various health reasons, I have been in pain for the last thirty (30) plus years. For the last four years I have been in constant (24 hours a day) fairly severe pain, yet I have chosen to live (Note: While some of my problems are progressive, they are not, unless I live a very long time, terminal.). I am not now nor have I ever been afraid to die. Dying is easy, it's living that is hard. I choose to live for my loved ones. They are more important than the pain I am enduring. They love and need me, therefore I need to be here for them. Because I love them, their welfare is more important to me than anything else. However, I would hate to be forced to live if I was terminally ill, in constant pain, incuring huge medical bills and couldn't take care of myself or my family. I'm not saying that I would commit suicide, but I am saying that it should be my decision and not some politicians decision. My decision should be based on how I feel it will help or harm my loved ones and on my religious beliefs at that time, not on the religious beliefs of some stranger. That stranger doesn't feel my pain, doesn't know what it is or is not doing to my family and doesn't suffer my loss of dignity.
I realize that many religions, my own included, believe that taking your own life, for any reason, is a sin and will cause you to be cast down. I hope that that is not true, however, as God has never spoken to me, I have no way of knowing for sure. Therefore, I personally, would probably, at this time, elect to live no matter how bad things became. I love my wife and sons and would hate to take the chance that they would go one place while I went elsewhere. I like the thought that after I die, I may be, someday, reunited with them for all eternity. This, however, does not give me or anyone else the right to decide that others have to live, no matter what their circumstances. Just as I want the right to decide my own fate, I believe that others should have the right to decide their own fates.
This is America "the land of the free" and we are supposed to have religious freedom, liberty and the right to happiness. For politicians to force their beliefs on us in these types of matters is, I believe, wrong, immoral, cruel and un American, because by doing so they are taking away our religious freedom, our liberty and our right to happiness (If someone is forced to suffer needlessly they are not happy.). I believe in giving up some freedom when it is for the good of the country or for the safety of my loved ones. I don't believe in giving up rights when it is for the good of some politician's ego or beliefs. Politicians should stop trying to protect everyone from themselves. That's not why they were elected.
Please don't take this article as saying that I am pro or anti suicide. All I am saying is that how one ends one's life should be a personal matter. It should not be for strangers to decide or control.
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