Brittany Maynard

The sanctity of life, I have written on this before in my other blogs and really do not want to rehash all of that again.  But ...

So, the poster child now for "Death With Dignity" is Brittany Maynard; young, articulate, pretty, showing us all the rosy path to assisted suicide in Oregon.  The perfect choice for those with terminal conditions, painful conditions, or too tired to live.  I remember when Oregon was thinking of enacting this law, just how poorly conceived it was.  Because, my mind always slips back to three things I know ...

First, that human life is precious.  It was conceived of and created by God for His purposes, not our own.  He is in control of the start and finish.  And though we may wish to flatter ourselves that we can choose our own endings - well, I doubt it.  If you were going to die at 7:00 on November 1st - it could have been by His choosing and means.  Your desire to end on your terms merely renders His method ineffective.  But, I am willing to bet to the second, is when your death was scheduled for anyway!

Second, I have had terminal cancer now three times.  Yet, somehow, God seems to have disappointed my doctors predictions time after time again.  Heavens yes!  I considered suicide once.  I was in horrible pain, because mine was tumors in the spinal cord - my entire body literally was affected since the entire nervous system had been compromised.  You really do not know pain until you experience spasms so badly your flesh is torn apart and you have to tape your hands and feet to stop them from being ripped to pieces!

The other two times were equally as bad, though the cancers were localized.  So, I do understand Ms. Maynard's choice.  However, in my being is the understanding of the preciousness of life - and God's demand to control it sovereignly.

Third, I have seen a great deal of death in my life.  People I have tried to rescue and it was unfortunately their time.  And, I have learned ...

Too many have I held in their last moments.  Whether coming upon a car which slammed into a tree on a lonely stretch of road, or an unknown climber on Longs Peak, or my great-aunt in critical care as her heart transplant failed.  Everyone dies ... our cultural unfortunately rejects this idea however.

Swedish Rocket Scientist's father died many decades ago.  It was the first Christian funeral I had ever to.  Personally, I feared the man and avoided him at all costs!  They read his diary at the funeral and I learned about a man whom discovered his life at 60, he died at 65 and one week, his first retirement check in his pocket.  He had become a Christian!  He told about his growth and discovery of what it meant to be human, as well as, to be a man.  He told about the choice between becoming a vegan to live or go for the Viking life - for as long as God allowed.  And he did like his sausages.

And I thought about a Christian I knew of in Albania.  He was married, they were very much in love, and his body began to fail.  The humanist would say, "Time to end it!"  But, he was content to live his days that God allowed him.  Oh make no mistake, in Albania in those days, quality of life did not exist and his condition dropped that level even lower.  And his family cared for him to the end.  There were no complaints.  In fact, they showed a love I could not understand.  My Danish uncle tried to explain this to me as compassion.  I can understand compassion from the standpoint of responsibility - if I accept responsibility for  you, I should not club you when you can no longer care for yourself.  And yet, as a Christian, I have marveled over this couple often across the last four decades.  The world would have turned its back on him and let him die, or offered the alternative of killing him, with his permission of course!  Or in Holland, the doctor or town council deciding that you are a burden on the society you live in and ordering your murder.  Yeah, Holland, progressive.

Then I think now to Ms. Maynard.  Do not know her story, do not actually care what the details are - except that she is the face of death now for the state of Oregon.

Obviously, she did not believe life was precious, that God created her, or that God - in His wisdom - is in control of her life.  We know she was terminal with cancer - maybe.

There is nothing beautiful about cancer - it eats you from the inside out.
There is nothing beautiful about wasting away, your features gaunt, your hair falling out or the incontinence.
There is nothing wonderful in sitting with your friends and no one knows what to say.
There is nothing wonderful in thinking about all of the dreams and desires which will never now be.

And yet, there is blessing which comes from not being conquered, from working with others with the same disease or just other cancer patients.  I remember my rocking collecting friend's wife's funeral, over 2,000 in attendance ... she quietly without even him knowing worked up to the day she fell into her coma, with others trying to battle breast cancer, which was killing her.  It was stunning the impact and blessing she had been to others.

I pondered this ... is it a blessing to be of assistance to others, even when they are dying?  And the answer is yes.  The only thing in this life of any value is others - human life - your willingness to invest your time and resources in others.  Not just for the living but for the dying as well.

Maybe this is just a sore point right now.  I am still trying to recover from my last heart surgery.  I feel like a mule has kicked me square in the chest!  Yet, I am better than I was before that surgery.  Before, I was slowly slipping away again.  And, it has been interesting to note the silence amongst my family and friends even a week later.

Yeah, this is not how it is to be.  It is however how it is in my life.  I did not pick friends or family very well it seems.