The
Horizontal Hotel It's a shame that Dr. Kevorkian looks so much like the grim reaper, and that he chose to be so completely blatant with his actions. At some level, I believe he has been a pioneer for the euthanasia movement, and perhaps in five or ten or twenty years, when mercy-killing is considered a human right instead of an indictable crime, and hopefully before I am in my dotage, we will look back and remember these days with shame, when people like Sue Rodriquez, a British Columbia woman afflicted with ALS, spent the final days of her life begging in the Supreme Court in front of an unsympathetic audience to have their misery ended legally. We will remember that we were happy to do this kindness for our aged and ailing dogs, to hold them and stroke them and thank them for their years of companionship and love and shed our tears as they slip peacefully from this world to the big doggie park in the sky, aided by a painless injection from an animal doctor. I have aging parents who have both taken me aside on separate occasions with concerns about dying in the conditions I have described above in a dreaded Horizontal Hotel. I would like to think that they should be permitted to write their wishes in a living will, something that defines their line between their criteria of living and the circumstances under which they wish to be allowed to die, something that will hold up in court and be respected and legally administered by doctors, something that speaks for them when they are no longer able to speak for themselves. I believe in the sanctity of life. But I draw the line at the "moral" majority that seems to insinuate itself onto our deathbeds. I do not understand why a certain group's religious convictions should have any impact on how or when my life comes to an end. They may believe that it is a mortal sin to end one's own life. But I am not worried about rotting in hell, I am worried about rotting here on earth. And I believe in the sweet good-bye. A gathering of a family, the closest of friends, who encircle a soul with love and comfort and acceptance. An opportunity for a sick and suffering soul to soar above the pain and the fear and to exit from this world like a shooting star, leaving a trail of star dust and tears to mark their passage.
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