[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by dhdallas

Personally, I do not fear death but I do fear living too long. I was a RN, paramedic & coroner at one time or another in my life and saw a lot of death up close. Other than children, I rarely felt sad at deaths which occurred even at relatively young ages. I have seen what happens to a person as they age. If you live long enough it is (almost) a certainty that you will lose all of your mental faculties and control of your bodily functions. My father used to say that he didn’t mind getting old because so many don’t get the chance. Then he developed dementia & became so weak he lived his last 18 months confined to his bed. Maybe if he could have seen the ending in store for him, he might have revised that statement.

Pope Paul VI once said, “Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it I say! Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”

Yes, but how many people, who can refuse life extending treatments, actually refuse the treatments? In my experience, not many.