We live in a culture where human life is disposable. Just look at the news headlines. Reputations are destroyed by accusation and innuendo. A lifetime of good work is torn down in a few hours of character assassination. Unborn babies are ripped from their mother's wombs by militant executioners seeking the bounty of warfare amidst unholy rules of engagement. The elderly are marginalized in warehouses. Legislatures and courts legitimize euthanasia. The specter of death dons its executioner's hood and cloak, brandishing the scepter of its sword, imposing its sentence of morte.
Innocence lost.
We live in a world where reputations are built in a lifetime and destroyed in moments. Suspicion, recrimination, and revenge rule the day. Corporate leaders, entertainers, politicians, and preachers build a body of work. They are known by their resume. Then a salacious report is published. Whether the report is true or not is never the issue. Media accusations are issued. In a blinding rush to judgment, the "now this" talking heads proclaim the "late breaking" speculation as truth. The public is informed that it has reached a decision. Pretentious journalists, pundits, and revenge-seekers pound the gavel in a quest for their "pound of flesh."
"The people have spoken."
A non-jury of non-peers issues the socially declared non-decree of a death sentence. The mob assembles the hastily constructed noose, tosses it over the limb of socially constructed justice, and completes the vile task, proclaiming its victory.
And that much more so if the "collective cultural conscience" dislikes the accused.
Innocence lost.
Ever since Watergate scandalized the political and social discourse, mistrust and contempt of authority have accelerated toward the yawning abyss of chaotic absurdity. From our earliest years we are taught the mistrust of authority.
Nearly 20 years ago, our family was vacationing in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks. While there, we encountered a protestor who was contending with the U.S. Department of the Interior's policies and procedures on management in the parklands. The bumper of his old Chevy Blazer was adorned appropriately with a bumper sticker that read, "Question Authority."
Innocence lost.
Our culture of death is voracious in its appetite to consume. "Old people cost too much to keep around," the sword wielding specter of culture proclaims.
"Let them die with dignity!"
Interpretation: "Kill them."
"They eat too much. They cost too much in medical care. They fill up too much space, and suck in too much air. They are disposable."
So the culture of death marches on to advance its agenda.
Innocence lost.
The truly innocent, the unborn child, is the easiest prey for the all-consuming killers. 60 million babies have been aborted since abortion was legalized in the United States in 1973. The genocide of two entire generations now stretches into its third. The culture of death has slaughtered the next Beethoven, Washington, Roosevelt, Franklin, and Curie.
Innocence lost.
I recoil in horror at the social agenda bent on death and destruction. I recoil at the injustice of character assassination, elder abuse, and abortion. But the culture of death does not stop its relentless stampede of encroachment into our lives. We consume other people through fornication, divorce, and abandonment of our children. We treat our star athletes as heroes, and then watch them die tragic deaths of dementia and Parkinson's disease brought on by our Sunday afternoon entertainment. We consume the latest would-be bachelors and bachelorettes, proclaiming their pornographic presentations as our "guilty pleasures," forgetting that these people are real people, pitiful people, broken people, whom we objectify for our pleasure. And once we conclude our playtime, we dispose of them carelessly.
Innocence lost.
The church of Jesus Christ must be different. Disciples of Jesus Christ must be different. There are no disposable people. We must believe that. We must live that truth.
In the early church, the believers were known to rescue live infants who had been disposed of by temple prostitutes and others upon the trash heaps of city dumps throughout the Mediterranean world of the first century. The church rescued these "undesirable" babies. Believers raised them as their own. The church discipled these children as followers of Jesus Christ. Those of us who claim to be people of the cross of Jesus Christ follow in their train of grace. We are called to love others with the self-giving love of the innocent Christ who gave Himself for all, that we might be saved.
Innocence lost.
Will you resist an all-pervasive culture of death? Choose life.
Dr. Neihof, I cannot agree with your views expressed here. I have been a hospice chaplain for over 10 years. My mother died on hospice care. I have never once in my entire career ever heard anything close to the statements you make hear regarding the lives of the elderly.
ReplyDeleteFirst, this representation is based on myths and falsehoods. The first myth is that anyone in the medical community whether a secularist or not believes anyone should be killed because "they eat too much...(and) suck in too much air." That frankly is laughable and a gross exaggeration at best. I doubt that even Peter Singer would agree to that sentiment. I have encountered more people that have prolonged someones life in order to continue to receive their social security check than have wanted to euthanize someone because they take up too much space or cost too much. Actually I have encountered none of the latter and more than I want to say of the former.
The second and more problematic issue I have is that this myth is a dangerous one. Allowing someone to die when interventions are no longer helpful or beneficial is not euthanasia. Chooseing to forego life sustaining treatment is not euthanasia. However the author equates any notion of "dying with dignity" - including rediculous ones - with careless and thoughtless euthanasia. I find this view dangerous because many Christians are faced with the issue of whether or not to provide or prolong life-sustaining treatments on a daily basis. These choices are difficult enough to make, but when people of like faith perpetuate the notion that by not doing absolutely everything to prolong life in every circumstance is to participate in a "culture of death" - with zero knowledge of each situation, or even of aging or the dying process in general - it interferes with proper decision making and causes unnecessary grief, pain and suffering.
I have seen firsthand how "doing everything" led to such pain. Several years ago I had a patient who had suffered a stroke years prior. She was nonverbal and fed artificially through a feeding tube and had artificial hydration. At first those artificial means helped to prolong her life, such as it was, and maintained at least some comfort associated with lack of hunger. However as she declined her bodily functions slowed and it no longer took in the nutrition provided by the tube feeding. It started backing up in her system, causing distention and discomfort. We convinced the family to slow it but they insisted on maintaining it. One day though we found that she had so filled up with unprocessed tube feedings that when she was laid down to be cared for she aspirated on that tube feeding and soon died.
To perpetuate the myth that "doing everything" is always appropriate and to not do so is equivalent to euthanasia is dangerous: dangerous to patients who are dying where interventions do more harm than good, dangerous to those who clearly state that they do not want extraneous measures such as CPR or artificial nutrition, and dangerous to families who are trying to find support to make these decisions.
It is very unfortunate that so many believe hospice to be a main provider of euthanasia when that is absolutely not the case.
I have tried to raise this issue with the AFA, where I originally read this article, but they have so far not approved of my opinion.
Frankly I hope that you would talk with medical professionals, hospice employees, and those that have been helped by hospice. I think you will find something quite other than the "culture of death" that you are writing about. I am quite willing to discuss this further with you and hope this can lead to greater understanding and dialogue.