It is only fair to come to grips with the situation that many of us will face as we move into our declining years
Time to admit that the too old, too frail and slowly dying also have a bunch of rights
And one of them must be the right to choose to die when we see fit, not when someone else decides for us
The folks making such decisions for others have obviously not spent enough time walking down the halls of any nursing home in this country.
No matter that the vast majority of nursing homes do all they can to make people clean and comfortable and employ some of the most noble caregivers in the health care industry.
The fact is for many of us there comes a time when we know continuing the charade and sham of life is a pitiful struggle, which only extends the moment of truth that eventually comes to us all.
Now for those of us who want to extend that time period until the body simply “gives up”, more power to them. They certainly have that right, and that choice is theirs and theirs alone to make.
Trapped in a Useless Body
But there is no doubt that for anyone else trapped in a hopeless situation, knowing full well the only place left is the funeral home, it is simply immoral that we who are still younger and healthy have the power to decide life and death issues for those that desire to control their own time of death.
If you have any doubts consider this.
You sitting there now reading this are most likely quite capable of making all the decisions in your life
You are at least relatively young and healthy, working everyday, providing for yourself and independent enough to make the major decisions in your life
Now consider the idea that someone else or a government agency has the power to decide for you, when you are too frail to even manage your physical needs, or trapped by disease or misfortune, how you will live and when you will die
You wouldn’t let anyone do that today, why would you let them do it when you have reached the point where life has become an insurmountable burden
Think of it, the most crucial and relevant decision we have to make in our entire existence is going to be made by someone other than ourselves. We should be outraged!
Freedom Must Extend to Dying
So isn’t it time to free the poor souls now trapped in life ending scenarios, doomed by rapidly failing health and maintained by technologies that barely sustain existences, much less give any hope of cure.
And isn’t it time to also free all of us more fortunate who are able to live independently, to know when the moment of truth is upon us we will have the freedom, choice and opportunity to end the needless physical and emotional drudgery that may come to many of us.
Jesus Christ had his last supper and we should all be able to have ours, if we so choose
When the time is near, we should be able to reflect and say goodbye to a life that has provided both joy and pain, in a way that acknowledges our flawed existences, but allows us to determine the moment of our passing
The angel of mercy should appear at our discretion, not at the whims and desires of other men and their beliefs.
With the aid of powerful drugs we are now able to slip out of this existence, peacefully without regret, because we know we have escaped the horror of a meaningless extended life
That horror can only be a mockery of the life we both passionately lived and endured.
I guess all of the more privileged in this country have been way too busy to notice the contradiction between extreme wealth coupled with middle class consumer values that have a left a wide chasm in The American Dream scenario.
Trickle-down Economics
Haven’t we been working on this Growth and Consumer Economy thing for at least the last sixty years
Certainly that is sufficient time for any respectable theory to work all the “bugs” out
If we just continue to grow the economy at 3% per year, all the money and jobs generated will naturally “trickle down” to all the underclasses in this country
A Walking Tour of Poverty
If you seriously believe that, it’s time to take a trip through the underbelly of any large urban area. Start with say NYC/Newark/Hartford, then Philly/WDC, maybe Miami and Atlanta. Then hit Detroit and Chicago/St Louis. Don’t forget New Orleans, Houston and Phoenix. And of course finish it all off in Oakland and LA, the list is endless.
Forget about unemployment figures and all that government nonsense
These people have fallen so far “between the cracks” there is no realistic way of counting the mass of unfortunates that are also Americans
So, remember as your cups “runneth over” and you think we can continue to add to, rather than fix what’s already upon us, stop, look around and be grateful you are not one of the tens of millions living something less than the “good life”.
Photo Credit:Beggar in the Subway:Internet Author Unknown
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity … and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
This brief video, Overpopulation vs Nature, depicts striking images of animals adapting to urban encroachment on their habitats. The musical score adds a haunting tension to the theme.
Urban Sprawl and Degradation
It is truly impossible to divorce ourselves from our daily encroachment on other worlds around us that are constantly being impacted by our inability to control our ongoing population sprawl and environmental degradation.
We simply cannot deny the direct correlation between our increasing presence on this planet and the destruction of habitats critical to the survival of other species
What looks to be at first glance to be insignificant changes in a multitude of areas around this country, add up quickly to a picture of immense interference and breakdown of eco-systems crucial to the survival of the natural world
But most importantly for all of us will be the grinding deterioration of our quality of life and ultimately our own self-destruction
Imagine a World Without Nature
To preserve and protect the natural world means some sacrifices and a conscious effort by all to control our numbers.
Imagination is key.
The payback is not only morally sound, but provides for a future full of hope and beauty rather than a tarnished, lonely world and our final passing.
If you poison the environment, the environment will poison you.
To everything there is a season, to every wave a limit, to every range an optimum capacity. The United States has been fully settled, and more than full, for at least a century. We have nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by allowing the old boat to be swamped.
Roy Beck, using a simple visual, puts immigration into perspective.
The United States has one million legal immigrants per year.
Arguments for Present Levels of Immigration
Rescue people in great poverty
A safety valve for poor and overpopulated countries
A need for skilled labor
Immigration Today is a Failed Policy
Twenty-five percent of our legal immigration is the poor from Mexico
There are 4.6 billion other people in the world living in equal or greater poverty than people living in Mexico
Third world countries add an additional 300 million more people every year
Taking in one million people every year is insignificant in terms of relieving or solving poverty.
Help Other Countries, Not Encourage Immigration
Siphoning off the very best minds from other countries is counterproductive to those countries.
Taking in unsustainable levels of immigrants only weakens our own economy and prevents us from further helping the countries to stabilize their own populations and economies.
This site is dedicated to a collection of writings, visuals, and critiques that combine to contribute to inspiring and encouraging solutions to overpopulation, particularly in the United States.
