NPR junkie that I am, I was listening to All Things Considered as I was driving home from work yesterday. They were doing a report on assisted suicide in Switzerland. Apparently, although assisted suicide isn’t legal in Switzerland, it’s “widely tolerated.” The only organization (non-profit, of course) which is willing to help foreigners die is located there–damn, but I’ve forgotten its name–and many terminally ill Europeans who don’t have any alternative are going to Switzerland in order to die. There’s even a movement in Switzerland to officially legalize assisted suicide.
I find it heartening that there’s a place in the world that is sane and sensible on the matter of euthanasia. Did I mention that Jack Kevorkian is my hero?
But then there’s the aggravating counterpoint, which is the pro-life contingency that’s trying to shut them down.
Damn, I just don’t get the pro-life thing at all.
LIFE in and of itself doesn’t matter. It’s the quality of life which should be the yardstick upon which ethics are measured. And with that quality of life issue comes the fundamental right of being able to choose whether or not to keep on living, or pick up the tab, tip the waiter, and check out. Suicide being a crime (or a sin–not a word I have much truck with, being an Atheist and all) is one of the most ridiculous, ghastly, and appalling things I can conceive of.
So, I guess I’m starting off the morning feeling pissy and ranty. Well, better than sick and exhausted, I guess.
