The Sanctity of Life:
Here's a concept to which almost everyone will say Amen. But what any of us really mean by it is elusive. It seems mostly a feeling that surges forth selectively, more frequently and more strongly in some than others. It wasn't that long ago when the whole country was caught up in the comatose life of a young gal, I think her name was Nancy, who had been comatose for years and the husband wanted to pull the plug and her parents didn't and before long even Congress and the President were all in a dither about the whole thing. I guess everyone agrees life is precious in some sort of vague way. For most there clearly are exceptions, like serial killers for one example. I looked at my cat Keisha sleeping so peacefully on the bed this morning and since she is 14 years old I realized something precious was soon to be lost. But the precious in this case would be limited to me. So much in life is always so relative.
Are some lives more precious than others? When Kennedy was shot it certainly seemed so. When Lincoln was shot the whole country went into prolonged dazed grief. Those who had unmercifully censured him months and years prior to his being shot wailed as loud as any others. If Bin Laden were to be captured and killed, Americans would rejoice, but a much larger mass of humanity would be outraged. A martyr would be born. Maybe that is why he alone, of all the El Qaida leaders, mysteriously escapes capture. Booth, for example, did the worst possible thing for his cause in killing Lincoln.
Part of the problem is that life is a continuum. Since the Created beginning it has never ended. We all, for example, arose from already living cells. At the genetic level we have always existed since the beginning of life, alive but in different forms until some hap-pence shuffling gave us our current form. Even then, aside from our functioning mental state we just ain't we. Over time our mental state changes so any "I" refers to a particular point in time. With so many varied mental states and subsequent interpretations of external events, what the hell can be determined as the truth? Then too, isn't life only precious to the conscious living? In that sense when we say life is precious it is kind of a selfish statement. I guess when others die it is more a misfortune----when we die it is more a tragedy.
Perhaps the concept of 'life is precious' needs qualification. Clearly for some people, for reasons of mental illness or life circumstance, life is not precious and they commit suicide. Who determines whether life is precious? Or more precisely how precious?
When we use the term 'life is precious' are we incorporating the quality of life into this term? When a parent lovingly states the life of their child is precious, they don't seem to mean just alive functioning cells. They seem to imply preciousness incorporates for their child good health, a good education, a good home, ample opportunities for a successful life, etc. I am sure they do. If all of this is part of the concept of 'life is precious' for their own child, it must, by any line of logic, mean the same implications apply to all children. Either that or life is only precious, in the full sense of the term, to select children. Here is where I part company with the 'family values' religious right.
All children, because life is precious, deserve to have equal amounts of money spent on their education, their health, and ample opportunities for a successful life, including an adequate adult support base whether that support base be all biological or not. When family values applies to all families I see the ethics; when, in reality, it applies to just certain families, then I interpret this as unethical, selfish, and uncharitable. Life, isolated simply into some living cells, is not inherently precious. A child's life in the worst squalor of a ghetto is not precious by definition. If the child's life were precious, no valid civilized moral society would allow the child to live under such circumstances. Keisha, my cat, is precious to me. The scrawny alley cat who scurries across my visual sight is not precious to me. So at least with cat lives, there is no blanket 'life is precious'. One cannot logically claim something is precious and treat it otherwise.
Those who are against universal health care policies for everyone consider the cost and sacrifice attending such a venture. They cannot possibly be serious about any sanctity of life. It becomes a term which then applies only to their own lives. Is it remotely reasonable to distill the term sanctity of life to mean only some functioning living cells? I mean that's it? The word life is reduced to that and then hailed as some sort of sacred duty to keep those cells going by any means for as long as possible? By this weird priority we can leave a child adrift with poor nutrition, no health insurance, no decent schools or teachers, no safe atmosphere in which to play, etc. and then if he gets shot with some sort of Uzi by being in the wrong place at the wrong time---leaving him hopelessly comatose----then all hell breaks loose if someone says, "Pull the plug". It just seems the time to show concern for others is when they find themselves on an unlevel playing field. That is the time to show concern for the sanctity of life.
Part of life is dying. We put animals to sleep painlessly because we treasure their lives so much that we want them to have a painless merciful dying process. I will never forget the scene in a hospital where the guy next to me in the room was paralyzed completely from a stroke. All he could do is move his eyes. He was a minister. People came in, read scripture to him, told him God was not through with him yet, all sorts of friends and hospital personnel asked him questions in which he was to move his eyes to the right for yes and to the left for no. Never once did they ask him if he wanted to die, if this was more than he could handle. I spent a lot of time buzzing for the nurses because he was constantly and violently gagging on his own saliva. I went over to his bed once (with difficulty) to assure him I had called for help and the look in his eyes was one of pure terror. And I was helpless. I hate being helpless so I demanded to be moved to another room to prevent me from being a witness to this cruelty. I will never understand the mentality involved in the government controlled dying process. Even when permission is given to remove tubes the patient is left to either suffocate to death or starve to death. Of course we sedate them. Is there something sinful about death with dignity, a peaceful death, or a dying process according to the wishes of the person dying? To me the sanctity of life demands all this. It is the person who counts not some useless machine driven functioning cells. For over a decade others were not allowed to visit Reagan because, put bluntly, Reagan was gone. Millions were probably spent to keep Reagan alive another ten or fifteen years. Excuse me, I misspeak, Reagan was gone, the millions were spent to keep a body alive.
Every death is unique. Everyone deserves the right, when possible, to control their own dying process. Everyone is entitled to death with dignity, to decide when enough is enough, either at the time or through advance directives. To do otherwise is to buy into the mentality that says, "God is not through with you yet". What kind of God must these people worship? I can't imagine what this minister had done so evil in his life that "God was not through with him yet". If this is how God treats his subjects I am really glad I will use common sense when Keisha is dying. She is going to die the old fashioned Hemlock way----good life, good death. Why, when humans behave badly in a collective fashion do we always blame it on God? Every one of the bastards leading all the killing factions across the globe, including George Bush, believes God is on their side----even Hussein believed that. I opposed the war from day one and I agree with Obama when he said he was willing to meet with almost anyone to settle disputes peacefully. In fact no one should ever go to war without meeting the opposition to try to settle things peacefully first. There needs to be a lot less claiming God is on our side and a lot more concern about whether we are on God's side. It seems God never endorsed killing to solve disputes because unlike us, God seems to appreciate the sanctity of life. Then again, I guess the Creator of life would.
