The Sacred Art Of Dying
“Old age is not an illness, it is a timeless ascent.
As power diminishes, we grow toward the light.”
May Sarton
Last night I watched a documentary on Seniors in Australia that belong to a group of death by choice. They go to workshops that explain methods to take one’s (Seniors only) life, They are told where they can get the drugs to do it: Mexico Veterinary stores. The documentary stated that the group had secretly made death pills so that they can choose when to end their lives. It is called “The Peaceful Pill”. Dr. Philip Nitschke is a right-to-die campaigner. Each of the group that spoke, were still in good health and ranged in age., one was in his late 90s but has put off his end because his wife had Alzheimer’s and needing him to care take. “When she goes…..” his voice faded off. Dr Nitschke speaks of senior’s fears of being trapped in a “medical nightmare” where they might be forced to beg loved ones to help end their lives. One man has a special self-suffocation kit and practices with it to make sure he has it down pat. They cannot have anyone with them when they do it for fear of legal repercussions. There is a book published about the Peaceful pill. Suicide is not a crime in Australia. What questions are entertained, what thoughts this gives rise to. Is it an easy way out, a giving up, or is it a way to die with dignity? How desperate we have become as modern miracles keep us alive longer, can put life on hold, and for whom? There was a news article on CNN that spoke of findings about God having the power to bring people back from the brink of death. Such smugness! I, for one, want no intercession. I don’t want to come back to a life of pain, forgetfulness, because people can not stand to let me go. How unfair. I understand some point to the Peaceful Pill.
Thoughts, last night led me to elders I have met, my parents as they aged, and the gift their agedness was to me. But, then, I remember a sister-in-law who had brain cancer and her last conscious reaction was screaming…and they hooked her up and kept her alive for months, with that scream frozen on her face. I know that pain medications just make you unable to react to pain. The morphine drip, drip, dripped, and the pain was there but I had no way to relate to it until the drug wore off enough hat I could beg. What is right? What is good? What is just? We can speak of perseverance, fate, karma, determination, and surrender to age. But that is not speaking to aging that might be torture. Once we hit that place of being put in hospitals, in nursing homes, in senior’s housing, we are at the mercy of everyone and totally powerless. This has to be a matter of consternation for the baby boomers who are living longer and those parked in front of the entry in homes and have that look of need to go home in their eyes.
With grace, many of us will live long, productive, healthy lives as our body goes through the stages to its end. May we be blessed with a quiet ending in the middle of our sleep. But what if it isn’t that? What if all dignity, grace, and mind is gone? What then and WHY? What is compassionate: Is it the understanding that we might choose our time and way…or is it that we might suffer so others can choose?
Don’t worry, I do not have any preplanned ideas, nor little stash of pills. I am one who will let life unfold. But comes a dawn, when I know, even if others do not, what, then, would be my choice, my regret, my unplanned plan? As baby boomers, we need to think about what strength we have to bear what we might have to bear. Do we have it in s? We can not just let life have its way with us, governments make our choices, and medical professions do as they will. At some point, we must know, absolutely and for sure, what we are willing to do and have done to us. It is a huge part of our reality. What takes more strength, wisdom, and personal volition? I am grateful for the unsettling stir of this documentary. It has made me think about my own aging in a different way.
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