The topic of human fragility is strong in my mind. Last night, I watched the conclusion of Bodily Harm starring the wonderful Timothy Spall together with Annette Crosbie, Lesley Manville and the inimitable George Cole. Bodily Harm is a brilliant British two-part drama. I won't pre-empt the story line except to say it is a very modern tale of some of the deepest factors of human existence and its frailties.titusonline has posted on assisted death. I support legalisation of euthanasia. I do so for the same reason as I support early term abortion. I don't like hypocrisy and coverups. Whether euthanasia or abortion are permitted by law, they occur. Society might want to deny it, walk by on the other side. But both these terminations of life occur. While these do not happen in a transparent manner there remains the possibility of wrong doing and corruption and the horrendous results and trauma of bungled attempts. I do not wish human hurt to be added to by criminalisation.
Public policy - and this seems to escape a lot of people - is not the same as private choice. I do not choose either euthanasia nor abortion in terms of my own life choices. I have given my life to God. I trust him with it - and I hope and expect to do so until my death by his grace.
Evidence of this has been seen in my own family. My husband, who was not a church-going Christian, died peacefully from a brain tumour and without the technical intervention which is so often part of modern dying. In recent times, my daughter was with me as I visited a cousin living interstate - dying of lung cancer - whom I had not seen for years. Through the help of modern practices she was able to sit up with her family and with us. We talked and laughed like a party was going on. Two and half days later she slipped into unconsciousness and died within 24 hours. My daughter remarked how fortunate our family was in the manner of its dying.
This is not the case for all - whether of faith or not. A faithfilled life does not mean a painless one. Not all people have chosen the walk of complete trust in God. There is, however, no reason why a modern pluralist society cannot give consideration to them in the name of God and of humanity.
