Life and death march side by side.

10/17/2014

smashingpicture.com

On the news this morning, I read the UK Director of Public Prosecutions's new ruling that assisted suicide guidelines are to be relaxed. This means that doctors and nurses who help severely disabled or terminally ill people to take their own lives are less likely to face criminal charges. At the moment, people travel to Switzerland’s Dignitas center without any help from professionals.

What's it all about? Why do people want to die?

The animal kingdom don't question life or death. They go about their business of finding enough to eat and accept death as their due. Of course, we can't read their minds, so we don't really know.

The highlighted verse of this poem, about the last dog who will ever live with us, was read out on an American radio show a couple of nights ago.

www.dogsblog.com

LIVING CREATURE

A break in the traffic sound

Sifting through silence around

The hollow echo of the past

Love of our lives, and the last.

The loss still rings in the home

And all about when we roam

The wood where we used to walk

Never was a need to talk.

In the flashes of past scenes

Perfect love, never demeaned

Dependant for every need

Demanding that you take heed.

Rest in the heat of the sun

Then a memory re-runs

Loving glance and trustful eyes

Mesmerises, makes me cry.

Living creature that he was

He had similar needs because

We shared the same world by choice

Heart twisting trust without voice.

Each room rings a different tune

Wishing I could see him soon

The loss makes me feel so small

Memory holds me enthralled.

landscapephotographymagazine.com

I've lived a life full of the highs and lows of experience. I've been well-off financially and materially, but I've also suffered the trauma of losing everything before starting again. Some of my life has been happy and some full of sorrow. The incredible fitness of youth gradually left me before pain set in. I've seen some of the most beautiful places on Earth, spoken to the people living there and returned to live out my retirement. During life, each person influences another—the residents of far away countries have given me a memory and I hope I've left my mark on them.

Why am I telling you about this abundance of experience?

Perhaps I'm winding down. I don't see the need to cling to a life of pain and disability. My darling husband looks after me now and I'd never consider leaving him.

Last night, he called for his mother. He's a strong man in body and mind, his tall frame thin now with illness. He's started treatment for cancer and sits in pain every night, determined to hold on to the last shadow of his time. Perhaps part of that need is to assist me.

Why do we want to prolong or shorten our life? Why can't we accept our fate in the way animals do?

The two greatest messages left by Jesus of Nazareth were: Love your neighbor as yourself, and love God. I do both.

What's it all about, dear friend? Are we just here to live and die, or is the greater plan to learn by experience?

9 Comments

Chloe

10/16/2014 07:36:23 pm

what a lovely poem x

Louise link

10/16/2014 07:45:01 pm

Such a lovely poem. I don't know how I feel about assisted suicide and things like that to be honest. I guess you can't really make an informed decision until you're in that situation :(

Manu Kalia link

10/16/2014 08:42:05 pm

The poem is so touching, it express from the heart.

Bethany Miller link

10/16/2014 08:50:18 pm

Such a beautiful poem. I love the way you used Jesus's words in your final thoughts, it always comes back to Him in the end. I do not have a lot of answers for you, but I do feel deeply the question you are asking. It is devastatingly sad that assisted suicides might be happening more often with the relaxed consequences pertaining to them. In the end, all we can do is love God and love people.

Kristen from The Road to Domestication link

10/16/2014 10:14:55 pm

I think we're here to learn, for certain! And as for life or death, there's a story circulating here in the US of a 29-year-old woman who has a fatal cancer diagnosis, and has "set her date" to die. Maybe it gives us some semblance of control over a situation that's otherwise out of our hands? I'm not sure. What I AM sure of, is that, until you're in that situation, there's no way to REALLY know what you'll do!

Alexandria Gunn link

10/16/2014 10:17:12 pm

That is a lovely poem. Thanks for sharing, Francene. It's a difficult one is assisted suicide and why we want to shorten/prolong life. I guess that the humanity in us is where we differ from the animal kingdom. We've evolved to the point where we want more from life. It would be interesting the read the thoughts of animals to tell whether they want that in reality too.

Sheri Conaway link

10/17/2014 03:08:44 am

This topic seems to be making news a lot lately. A young woman with brain cancer recently moved to Oregon where, unlike California, the laws are more relaxed regarding assisted suicide. I believe we are here for a purpose; to learn lessons as well as to teach others, I also believe that we know when we've done all we were supposed to do in this lifetime. Those who do decide they're done and take matters into their own hands are, even now, heavily stigmatized. I'm reminded of a movie from many years ago "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?". Is it really necessary to prolong life when its quality is gone and the individual believes they've completed the mission they came her to perform?

sojourner link

10/17/2014 04:58:49 am

Interesting debate. Here in the US, there is a harsh punishment for doctors or nurses who assist in suicide. It's still considered criminal. I can only imagine what pain a person must be dealing with both emotionally and physically to want to take their own life.

Alana link

10/17/2014 08:42:08 am

Francene, I don't have any answers. Today, my husband's 102 aunt fell and broke her hip. The doctors don't know if they even dare treat it - she may not survive the needed surgery. Such a vital woman, and now it's the end. And, here in the states, there is a lot of coverage about a 29 year old woman with a brain cancer, terminally ill, who moved to a state that allows assisted suicide, and she has declared her intent to do just that on November 1. You read about her suffering - which is terrible - and you wonder if life even has any meaning. I'm in a dark mood right now and I don't want you, my cyber friend, to be infected. You and your husband remain in my thoughts.

Francene Stanley:
Author
I use news items in my fantasy novels.

Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books on the sidebar below?
I blogged 260 days last year. Link.