Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
I see your point but sometimes I wonder if they have ever seen how life ends. If life would end neatly like switching off a light switch, I would say their plan is a good one. A good example might be sudden death from a heart attack. It's neat, clean and quick. And they might have just enjoyed a big buffet.
But most of the time life doesn't end neat, clean and quick. Therefore, it seems a bit short sighted, in my opinion. More often than not I think life ends agonizingly slow, with a great deal of suffering.
I've had two friends, one with cancer and one with a stroke, both of whom said to me, "I don't know why I can't die"! Obviously things did not go as they had planned. They thought they would just die and didn't imagine how long and drawn out the suffering would be.
It's fairly common knowledge (I've read this many times) that people who live long healthy lives usually die quickly and easily. Of course it's not something that everyone can do; I realize that. But that would be my goal.
An example of that: A man got a big write up in the daily Sun. He was going to celebrate his 100th birthday. There would be a party at KFC and everyone was invited. So I went. Meeting a 100 year old person was a first for me and I enjoyed the whole experience. About 4 years later I bumped into him at the Golden Corral. On his way to the front door he tripped and fell face first onto the parking lot. No big deal; he just got up like nothing had happened.
I kept track of him by looking for his name in the phone book. Every year his name was in the book. Finally, this year he was to be 109 in July. But shortly before his birthday I heard a a doctor on the radio say that his 109 year old patient had died. It turned out to be the man I knew. The doctor said the man (his patient) was sitting in his living room and looked like he had just fallen asleep. And the amazing thing: The doctor said he never had anything wrong with him. His heart just stopped. This happens a lot to centenarians.
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He passed as we all wish to, at peace and hopefully with little or no pain. 109, wow!
It may seem shortsighted to you, but people are people, some are more in tune with the here and now, others are happier when they realize just what they may face, and plan ahead to minimize future suffering if they feel there is a way.
People are always taking risks, making an assumption that if they die, well, they die. They forget that they might NOT die and face long years of suffering. That's how people are. Everyone is unique, everyone sees the world differently.
We all have individual attitudes about how to live and enjoy. The thought of dying quickly or slowly doesn't always come to mind....some just live. When death comes, it will come and if suffering is a part of it, well, then it is.