Elderly Canadians fear euthanasia
One woman's surprising response to legalisation: get a tattoo.
In June this year, the Canadian Parliament legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide. Not everyone is happy about this, as Christine Nagel explains below.
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For years, I warned my children to steer clear of tattoo parlors, and now at 81 years old, I have had to resort to one myself.
Bill C-14 makes it legal for us to play God and to make decisions over life and death ourselves. Assisted suicide is promoted as the most dignified way to treat an aging population--humanely, painlessly and without the need for suffering. Financially, it will become the salvation to our overburdened health care systems.
Our Government and Supreme Court do not of course mention anything about money, but they do warn us that within a few years, seniors will outnumber the rest of the population and will need an army of caregivers to cope with them. That will be costly. Inevitably, euthanasia will become a more "socially acceptable" way to solve this problem, than for example Hitler's "Final Solution".
Obviously, none of this is acceptable to us Christians. We look to Christ on the cross, stripped of his garments, writhing in agony, and covered in blood--hardly a dignified image of God's son.
Yet the meaning of this is central to our faith. Suffering is vital to life and to our growth. What occurs at the end of my life is between God and me. Let no one else dare to interfere.
So to understand this message clearly, read my shoulder!
Christine Nagel
Calgary, Alberta
Calgary, Alberta
I remember reading years ago about the Mondragon co-operatives of the Basque region of northern Spain, and thinking what a great idea it was. Not having given them much thought since, I was intrigued to read Karl Stephan's reference to them in discussing alternatives to the global giant -- a virtual state -- that Facebook has become.
Dr Stephan, an electrical engineer, eschews Facebook (his wife does not, and tells him everything he needs to know about it) but belongs to a neighbourhood messaging network which he finds very useful. Taking up an idea from The New Atlantis, he says there is no fundamental barrier to making a Mondragon co-operative Facebook-like entity -- for a smaller network of people. It sounds like something worth exploring, at least for more personal sharing.
Carolyn Moynihan
Deputy Editor,
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