Living and Dying

So a while back, almost 6 months ago now, in January, I wrote a piece on this blog called "Dignity of Human Life". It was in response to a great number of things, but mostly to the Obama lifting of sanctions against funding abortions world wide. The post talked about life, how we define it, and how it is sacred.

Not long ago, Florida, and indeed the entire world faced the Terry Schiavo controversy, which was shortly followed up by His Holiness the Pope, John Paul II, dying in a scarily similar manner. It was a question of death, and where life and death met. Not many people liked the answers. Heck. No one really liked the questions either. Do we go through expensive therapies? Do we hook ourselves up to machines for long term care? Do we hold on to hope? Or give it up at the first signs of trouble?

No one can answer those questions for another human being. No one has the right to do that. Whether Terry Schiavo really wanted to live or die in her state will forever remain a mystery. No one has the right to determine whether another living human being should die and when. The only time it is remotely justifiable is in the defense of one's own life or one's family.

Just over 2 years ago, my grandfather died of terminal cancer. It had spread throughout his body and was, in the end, what caused a complete shutdown of his body. He died at home. He died with loved ones around him, and I thank God for the opportunity to be by his side when that happened. He fought for over 14 years against this horrible affliction. There were many times when he was close to death and he fought to bounce back. In the end, it overwhelmed him.

So what do we do about dying? Do we fight? Do we accept God's calling to come home? What do we do? A story written in the New York Times about a town in my home city, Rochester New York, hit me today as it showed up in the little podunk paper for the sleepy little town my parents live in here in Florida. The Sisters of Saint Joseph in Pittsford NY meet death with dignity. It's difficult in America, to talk about death. Talking about death for the average American, or even advocating death with a sort of dignity conjures up images of Jack Kevorkian and assisted suicide advocates. It's something we sadly, as a culture, have to overcome. Death with dignity does not mean prematurely ending a life. It does not mean giving up on treatment that is certainly viable. It does not mean rotting away to nothing simply because you're sick.

These nuns are quite a vibrant little community, and very diverse. They receive medical treatment for things like cancer, as Sister Mary Jane Mitchell did, aged 65. Like Sister Marie Albert Alderman, 84, who sees a kidney specialist and manages her health closely to keep herself from having to go through dialysis. These are women who pray and live in the Gospel every single day, praising life in the Lord. To say that these women 'welcome' death is a blatant fallacy.

But one thing that must be remembered is that these women draw a line between extraordinary means and normal health care. The Catholic position, as they state in the article, does not equate to 'Do everything humanly possible to save a life'. Pope John Paul II elected to die with dignity when he had his feeding tube removed and passed on.

While life is certainly important, and must be defended, natural death is just that... natural. It is a part of the life we have as human beings.

So on that note. Hug your loved ones. Tell them you love them. Fight for your beliefs. And make the seconds and minutes count.