March 31, 2005

Finally.

I'm irritated at all the self-righteous windbagging that has gone on, that brought me psychologically to the point where my only reaction when a person dies is, "finally!" That just shouldn't be. Relief, yes; there are certainly cases out there where the end comes as a blessed release from the suffering of a painful life. The current case started out that way.

But the blogs, the newspapers, the televisions, the churches, the political meetings, and just about every damn other place you turn, they've all taken this poor woman's situation and blown it into a full-on proxy war about everything from abortion to health care, when really all it ever was was an unfortunate family dispute regarding whether a spouse has total decision-making capability for the mentally unfit (or mentally departed, as the case may be). I was---we all were, I think---getting so sick of it. There was a dread in the pit of my stomach that a feeding tube would be reinserted at the 11th hour, a cruel and unusual treatment dragging the whole mess out for months or years more.

Now, it's over. I have no illusions that the publicity will stop, but I can hope that at least the rancour will settle down a bit, and it will become a more civil debate. And politicians will have to stop using it as a smokescreen for whatever new crap they're pulling this week.

"It's like the pull-out-and-pray method of birth control--really, it's one of the most sinful methods of birth control because it sucks at preventing unwanted babies, and the point of Catholic dogma is that life should be desired, not that our methods of preventing life must be shoddy." --Jonathan Prykop

Posted by blahedo at 11:02am on 31 Mar 2005
Comments
Not long ago, I made a comment that when the Pope goes on these strenuous trips across the world, I wonder if he is pushing himself hoping that he dies on one of them. I was accused of accusing the Pope of trying to commit suicide, a sin. Merely hoping for death to come, while doing nothing more to hurry it than going about ones duties is perceived as suicide. There seems to be a cult of life that is elevating this life above all else. What I don't understand is that this cult of life is so pervasive among those who claim to be religious. Why is death so hated and feared above all else? I understand that people believe sometimes God would ask us to live when death would seem preferrable, but it seems like hanging onto life at all costs without ever even wishing for death to come has become the only moral stance to these people. Posted by lee at 3:19pm on 31 Mar 2005
Yeah, I've made comments along those lines before: Chris over on Progressive Protestant has dubbed this stance "idolatry of life", which is exactly right. Posted by blahedo at 4:17pm on 31 Mar 2005
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