By Larry Peterson       

Euthanasia (aka assisted suicide), is a pathetic concept promoted under the guise of compassion, mercy and kindness. It is no such thing. Euthanasia is not compassionate. It is not merciful. And—it is not kind. It is an abomination because it celebrates  the destruction of the greatest gift each and everyone of us has been given by God, the gift of life. 

Enter the glorification of this process via legalization. The “muckety-mucks” and sophisticates who know what is best for everyone have succeeded in having this practice legalized in Belgium, the Netherlands, the states of Oregon, Washington and Vermont and one county in New Mexico. In the state of Montana they have what we would call “de facto’ euthanasia. There is no law on the books. They “just do it”—no problem. The twisted logic in this narrative called euthanasia or assisted suicide is nothing more than egotism and meism stretched to its secular limits. The fact is this; every human life is sacred unto itself. It is a gift from our Creator and we are each responsible for how we treat this gift. It is NOT up to governments and people to decide who should live or die.

Look at the photo above. Her name was Milou de Moor. Milou was stricken with lupus when she was 12. The course of the illness caused her not only pain but also mood swings, blackouts and depression. By the time she was 16 she requested to be euthanized. Life had become too hard and painful to bear any longer. And her own mother and father and sister, encouraged her to do it.

It makes sense to me that if a teenager is afflicted with an auto-immune disease and is severely depressed and requests to end her life, all she might need is the encouragement of her parents and sibling(s) to push her to finalize that request. If her doctors are telling her how painless her non-life will be and how easy it is to arrive in non-life, how easy does it become to go there. People who encourage another who is weak and vulnerable to begin with, to take his or her own life and help them to do it,  have entered into a dark celebration of nothingness. They have joined forces with others who rejoice in choosing death over life. How utterly sad that is.

There is such a thing as palliative care which  includes end of life care rather than the option of ending life. There are medications, and counselors and treatments for all types of illnesses and disabilities, Drugs for depression and severe pain are available. But what is always most important is the great intangible that you cannot see or swallow or touch. This I can attest to from experience; that  the love and support of family and friends combined with an abiding faith in the Creator of life.is the true power that transcends any celebration of nothingness.

There is a strange irony in the tragic saga of Milou de Moor. Apparently her date to be euthanzied had been set. Then at the last minute her general practitioner decided that he could not go along with her dying. When Milou heard this she ran off to her family’s apple orchard and hanged herself. The parents are outraged at the doctor and are suing him for NOT killing their daughter. Think of the long term ramifications of such a thing. Will doctors now be told that they MUST take lives to spare their own careers and futures?   California is next up to bat. Their euthanasia law has been passed and it awaits Governor Brown’s signature. Whatever have we wrought?

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