Assisted suicide, be careful what you wish for

"Death never seems to come the way we want. It often comes with pain and ugliness. With many who are aged, depression, dementia clouds the judgment. The once adult has become the child. The all-knowing medical staff can be a bit overpowering and strongly influence choices made.

I am all for changing the care from trying to heal to treating death that is inevitable. I am concerned about the state of mind of those dying. and the transfer of power to others. If assisted dying becomes law the land, will it lead to insurance and government aid setting time tables for treatment and termination.  It will be decided based on cost and will be applied to those who can't pay or weak of mind. There comes a time when to allow death to take its course is the most logical one. 

The dying need help and care, but beware that we are far more capable of misusing assisted suicide." 

I wrote this comment in response to an article by Susan Gruber, Living with Cancer: Deciding About Dying. NYT http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/living-with-cancer-deciding-about-dying/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Living%20With%20Cancer&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

Much of our social law is based on individual choice and I am assuming that assisted suicide will eventually become law the land. 

Many years ago Francis Schaeffer arguing for pro-life saw a society with the values of personal peace and influence wouldn't time embrace euthanasia. Well that time is finally arrived. 

Many of us have seen loved ones reach a time in which they were fighting a terminal illness. All of the efforts to cure or to put in the remission the disease had  come to an end. What was ahead was dying and the best decision was to quit fighting it and make the person more comfortable.

I read in the other day that Maureen Ohare age 95 passed away peacefully in her home while she was asleep. She was surrounded by friends and family so they know her death was coming. The article didn't report any suffering that she may have done prior to her death. 

I think we all envision a death where we just wear out as we age. But unfortunately death comes in all packages and all different ways. In the stories that I've read from the article the deaths wrote about were cancer. 

Terminal illness has to be treated. Probably the number one priority is pain. Helping the dying has its own care. I would argue against assisted suicide for the following reasons:

1. The mental state of the one who is dying,  I have noted before that 25% of us  are clinically depressed at age 63. With dementia and other aging issues  bring about some form of mental decline as we age. For many who are older a childlike state becomes a factor.  Others may maintain a high level of awareness at death.
2. Once assisted death becomes the the law land government and  insurance regulations will impose policies based on cost-effectiveness which will open up the door for euthanasia for those with dementia and terminally ill who are poor and cannot afford personally the cost of care.   Assisted death will be practiced against the will of seniors we can't afford to care for. 
3. Personal choice will be the trump card into putting this into action, But the ramifications will go way beyond the present debate. It will open up the door for us to socially engineer death to be more cost efficient and to terminate the weak and the old, especially those far removed from the power circles that we invent. 
4. Personal affluence and peace have little concern for trials and struggles.  It ts our various difficulties that define us and make a strong. Even death which we run away from or try to cover up needs to be faced.  Death teaches us our days are numbered and the need to prepare for eternity.  We have enabled ourselves to rarely get involved with it. Assisted suicide is just one more way we make ourselves comfortable. We will be enabled to not face our mortality.  no matter what you believe life is short.  We are living longer but with age there is problems.

 Care for the dying and their families I totally embrace. Helping everybody come to terms with our mortality is a critical part of our humanity. As a Christian I believe death opens the door for eternity with or without God. Helping those with terminal illnesses spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically to them through death will maintain the highest dignity we have for life. Keep walking

Do you know how many days you live?

“Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.” Psalms 92

The Bible teaches us to number our days. When we think about our age we go by years and maybe at death somebody calculates how many days after our birthday did we live. If you're wondering where I'm going with this I have been studying the early life of Christ before he started his ministry to complete my study of the life of Christ. Both Simeon and Anna were of great age in Luke 2. They were both waiting for the Messiah and they got to see him before they died. Because we understand life measured in years translations may use years in vs. 36 when it speaks of Anna as aged. But the Greek literally speaks of days. 

So I got thinking how many days that I lived so far? I don't think like that so I didn't know. And I bet you don't know either. So I added the leap years and multiplied my years times 365 plus the days I have lived since my birthday. 

Note of of October 20th 2015 I have lived 23,205 days. My goal is 30,295 days which falls short of these two people who got to see the baby Jesus. Next wondered how many years would I have to live to reach 30,000 days. If I reach that goal I am very close the goal that I set for myself of 83 years, which is a stated this 30,295 days. I threw out there how many years it would take 40,000 days. To do that you would have to live a little over 109 years. For me that seems to be impossible. Maybe some of you may have a chance, but most of us won't make it that far. 

To reach my goal I would have to live 7090 days. While my number seems to be a reasonable number it is purely arbitrary. I am aware of the Lord knows the day of my death. Nevertheless it seems to be a good number to go for. If I live 83 years I think I lived a long time. Much longer than my parents or my brother, which isn't necessarily a good thing to know. To get there I do have to make good lifestyle changes and pay attention to healthy living. Many of these changes I have put in operation since about age 55. I follow my doctor's advice which is right now centering about 80% of my effort to not over eating. Once again the weight is starting to come off. 

Counting these 7000+ days I have left I think the most important thing is how we live them. 

1. Each day is a blessing rain or shine
2. Each day is an opportunity focussed on  what I feel is important.
3. Each day consider my relationship to the Lord
4. Each day consider my relationship to Barb, family and friends.  Are you familiar with the idea of toxic relationships, now's a good time to set up good borders with them. 
5. It is good to have a bucket list and enjoying every blessing you can.  I hope by now you read books that you enjoy and not what others may tell you to read. Record TV shows you want to watch and let the others go. I want to do things every day that are good for me. 
6. Since I'm not dead yet,  I know I have an opportunity to help who I want to help and  God has made it clear to me to help some in need.  I think this has to be personal and not tied do some political, philosophical or religious  agenda of others.  But I'm going to stay open on this.  Just something to think about,  keep walking

Playing the odds

My Cubbies are in the playoffs, and I'm full of baseball stats. Playing the percentages can make a difference between winning and losing. But always a problem a good pitch can be hit and a bad Pitch can be missed. On any given day a weak player can make the play of the game and a very good player can boot the ball. Baseball can drive you nuts you think about it.

It is the same way with health, we play the percentages. In an article appearing in AARP this month pointed out that if we walk 30 minutes a day five days a week we can increase our chances of dying suddenly by 30%. The article reported that if you walk 15 minutes a day you have the benefit I'm reducing sudden death by 22%. If you factor in good sleep, healthy food, and good weight you may be able to even increase those odds. What drives us nuts is doing all right things doesn't guarantee that you won't have a sudden death. 

What does tip the scales for me about a good lifestyle choices is the one guarantee that we will feel better walking 15 to 30 minutes a day then if we don't. Walking, biking, Swimming are all activities that can improve the quality of our life. I am putting in some new windows in my home that will improve the quality of my experience with all the weather experiences we have here in Midwest. Maybe someday it'll make up the costs with savings from energy. Or maybe it will help with resale value. But I know it will help feel warmer this winter. 

I hope the numbers encourage you to keep on walking. Life is like baseball we like to improve our odds to live better and maybe just a little longer. 

I like seeing the Cubs playing better baseball, win or lose they've been fun this season. I know Madden will play by the numbers and they got a good shot. I will try to enjoy each game and we'll see what happens. I think the same way when we take a walk, doing what's good for us and enjoying each day, being thankful to the Lord for each breath we take and moment to enjoy. Keep walking and Go Cubs!

How those who are strong can encourage us

I've been thinking about Psalm 34:2, "my soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice." Who are the afflicted? Are they the ones who are mistreated, letdown, or are they poor, have some other disadvantage? I have always tried to overcome my weaknesses, handicap, nor even fears. As I look back I realize that despite my handicap it's kind of made me strong. I was reading in When Nietzsche Wept, "whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger." I don't know about that statement.  I think sometimes many things can happen and we can be overwhelmed. But there's something about steel of character and it's about not by easy things but the hard things.
I think it's a good idea to let our kids experience problems. We can set a boundary on that experience and let them know we were behind them. But letting them work at their problems will make them stronger and let me introduce the idea of teaching them to pray. Being strong physically, mentally and emotionally doesn't exclude our need of God and prayer. God works through gifted people and people of character. The human need of salvation and the gift of eternal life is for both the strong and weak. If we think of the strong as not needing God then I don't think we see how it works. If someone thinKs they don't need God they are a fool, Ps, 14:1.
I have an exaggerated fear of helplessness. And I will doing anything I can to be an  overcomer. That used to be a theme in psychology books back in the 70s. Striving to overcome, to build up ourselves, to work at things so that in our life can be better that's a good thing. Some things don't come easy, there isn't really an easy road for it.
The occasion of Psalms 34 is David here acting the crazy man, he had put himself between a rock and hard place. Saul was trying to kill him and the Philistines were in front of him, and he ran out of options. David the champion for the Lord finds himself in a place where he couldn't do anything to save himself. That is hard place to be for anyone who is a strong person. I know how hard it is sometimes bend a knee, to ask for help. In Psalm 34 records his experience of trusting God when he is in a difficult life threatening situation.
To often we think others should care for those in need. We are fortunate to live in a country where we are generous that way. I have been challenging myself to find ways of doing things myself. It is not good enough to look back, somehow it still matters as an old man. I don't want a pat on the back. The truth is what ever I do it won't be enough. I only write of it to stimulate thought and action for any of us to keep at it and make it personal.
Think about widows and orphans, about those who for  no fault of themselves by himself unable to care for themselves. We might be strong without someone else, but when the light turns around and we are the ones who have that need even temporary, it is challenging. James 1:27 talks about people who are in distress, and if you we can help them to be relieved so they can go on to care for themselves, to work things out for a better situation that is a good religion. People being people there will always be someone in need. But hopefully meeting somebody's distress they can rebuild their life and give to someone else has a need.
Read through the psalm, David got to the bottom line, it's a place we really don't want to go to but we get there sometimes. All of his resources, his strength, the things that made him heroic were of no use to him and faking insanity I think in his heart, he cried out for God to help. You can check out the story but he lived through that crazy time and God protected him many times. If the strong cry out to God, which I think we think of is rare, but when they do many are encouraged. Keep walking