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Open Poetry #44
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WindWalker
Senior Member
since 2001-10-12
Posts 1218


0 posted 2009-04-11 07:16 PM


We won’t feed the hungry –
we’ll steal food from the starving –
if there’s a profit in it, of course.

We’ll plan for war and start wars;
we’ll destroy and kill at will–
if there’s profit in this too, of course.

But that’s not all the horror
we are capable of doing to life
for in the “rich” worlds –
bodies: comatose, decrepit, mostly dead
are kept in disrespectful half-life;
in pain and extended misery;
at great cost to the social treasury
while the embodied beg to be allowed to depart.
Is this just about money for physicians
and assorted drug makers or is there more to it?

The first question is:
Why is self-chosen euthanasia “wrong” –
but a war that kills millions “right”?
Why can I not choose my own time
to leave this world?
Who has the power, let alone the right
to judge such a sacred private choice?

I feel my time on earth nearing its end:
I contemplate faraway mountains
and long to cross over; to fly:
I have no fear of that unknown
beyond the setting of the sun.

And I think how nice, warm, loving,
it would be of my friends and close ones
to empathize with the desires of my heart
and encourage me to go “home.”
But it will not be so:
for Earth humans are frightened of death
perhaps almost as much
as they fear to be truly alive!

© Copyright 2009 Sharran WindWalker - All Rights Reserved
secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
1 posted 2009-04-11 07:52 PM


"The first question is:
Why is self-chosen euthanasia “wrong” –
but a war that kills millions “right”?
Why can I not choose my own time
to leave this world?
Who has the power, let alone the right
to judge such a sacred private choice?" ...

The denizens of 'organized religion' would argue
that they have every (self righteous and self certain)
'right' to decide this (and  very MUCH else) for you!

Robert E. Jordan
Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-25
Posts 8541
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2 posted 2009-04-11 09:00 PM


Yo WindWalker,

Would you be terribly hurt if I said that the majority of mankind doesn't care about how things work out for people that aren’t close to them?

That's the way human nature operates.

BTW, some doctors treat people out of the kindness of their heart. i.e. FOR FREE!  

That happens quite often.

Of course, if you have the money, they will want it.

Bobby

[This message has been edited by Robert E. Jordan (04-11-2009 09:34 PM).]

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
3 posted 2009-04-12 11:25 AM


Issues such as euthanasia are emotionally charged. MHO, it is an option that should be legal everywhere, that the individual who is terminally ill but still of sound mind should be given this right. To me, it is far more humane than forcing them to suffer needlessly, as many do.

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
4 posted 2009-04-14 12:46 PM


This is an issue that I feel very strongly about. No one should be forced to suffer needlessly. Perhaps those who are so quick to deny others release from suffering will feel differently when their turn comes. I admire the way you have dealt with this tough issue. WW.
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