(no subject)
This morning on the Georgia news portion of Morning Edition, there was a story about the legislature working out some law so that doctors who give lethal injections for the death penalty won’t “have problems” (legal, I presume) down the road. And it struck me--even leaving aside what I may think or feel about the death penalty per se--how hypocritical and nearly ludicrous it is for a state to sanction doctors administering the death penalty, but not to countenance doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who wish to end their lives with dignity.
This is one of the reasons I so loathe all the current talk about promoting “a culture of life.” A true reverence for life is accompanied by compassion, empathy, and mercy, and seeks to alleviate suffering. To ignore suffering, to refuse mercy, to deny an individual’s right to self-determination--these actions do not serve life, but betray it.
This is one of the reasons I so loathe all the current talk about promoting “a culture of life.” A true reverence for life is accompanied by compassion, empathy, and mercy, and seeks to alleviate suffering. To ignore suffering, to refuse mercy, to deny an individual’s right to self-determination--these actions do not serve life, but betray it.