The program (PBS?) on the Swiss facility showed that the people there were using the metaphor of a "journey" -- death was simply the next stage. It seemed pretty hokey to me, but the dying man's wife seemed to take comfort from the metaphor. I didn't get the impression that the guy cared.
As long as we need and use metaphors there will be something deceptive about the whole process, I think. Am I being to harsh? Friends in a little, religious, and poor town in Colorado threw a farewell bash for the dying man, and then after they left he took poisons. I was told that everyone knew what was going to happen, and they all thought it was the right decision, and were glad that their friend had not only the choice but the moral ability to implement it. Cheers, Lawry On Jul 21, 2010, at 2:50 PM, Ed Weick wrote: > The movie Soylent Green has a passage about this kind of thing. When they > are ready to die and leave the abysmal place the world has become, people can > go to a place in which they are put onto a comfortable stretcher and wheeled > into theater. They are then given chemicals that will make them close down. > As they are doing so, beautiful music is played (parts of Beethoven's > Pastoral in the movie) and scenes of deer in pastures and bounding through > woods are projected onto a large screen above them. What a way to go! > > Ed > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Lawrence de Bivort > To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION > Cc: 'Keith Hudson' > Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 9:31 AM > Subject: Re: [Futurework] Here's to mental health at 90! > > > Agreed, Keith, Though I don't know about the bludgeoning! More and more, > people seem less fearful of death. Perhaps that fear was derived from the > religiously promoted threats of heaven and hell? My sense is that many > people have attained such a level of quality in their lives that losing much > of that quality in the face of the infirmities of age is unacceptable. And > with our longer live-spans it may be easier to conclude that one has led a > good life and that it is time to wrap it up. Some of my friends talk about > pacts among themselves to make sure that their last days are not spent in > hopeless agony. Going to a service in Switzerland may be the best option now > -- though a program I saw about it some time ago made it seem too austere for > my tastes -- is an expensive option and like so much else, the virtues of > 'grow and buy local' may extend themselves to this end-of-life realm. > > Cheers, > Lawry > > >> Arthur, >> >> >> Over here the idea of euthanasia is proceeding far faster than I would have >> expected even as recently as a year or two ago. My partner and I have both >> signed a legal Advance Notices (requesting non-resuscitation in case of >> severe debilitation, etc), and there are increasing numbers of press stories >> about individuals (usually the totally paralysed with locked-in minds who >> can only communicate by blinking) who want to be sent on their way, retired >> doctors who confess to mercy killings when they practised, and there's a >> growing stream of people leaving for the clinic in Switzerland that does >> this thing. >> >> I think that well within 20 years -- when there'll be huge numbers of the >> old -- we'll see voluntary euthanasia on a large scale. I think we'll start >> to see a lot more involuntary euthanasia than already goes on in our nursing >> homes. My guess is that, already, hundreds, if not thousands, of cases go on >> every year that are never revealed. >> >> As recently as 200 years ago when Scandinavian families in the far north had >> had a bad summer and insufficient food to see them through the winter if >> they had an aged parent on board, they would hold a ceremony (usually on a >> particular family rock) whereby the ancient was clubbed to death (with their >> permission). Once we get this Christian thing about souls and so forth out >> of our head then euthanasia of anybody who's become a severe economic drain >> will become culturally acceptable. It will take generations but, I think, >> inevitable. It seems terribly shocking to us now but it will be normal then. >> >> Keith >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
