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A higher standard than for cats and dogs
Catholic Citizens ^
| 12.23.15
| Father Tad Pacholczyk
Posted on 01/02/2016 8:44:27 PM PST by Coleus
A higher standard than for cats and dogs
Sometimes people will point out: "We euthanize our pets when they suffer, and they are clearly creatures of God, so why can't we euthanize a sick and suffering person who wants it? It seems like we treat our dogs and cats better than we treat our suffering family members." The way we treat animals, however, should not be the measure of how we treat fellow human beings. We keep animals as pets, but we don't do the same with humans. We use animals to make clothing and food, but we don't do the same with humans.
For all our similarities to the rest of the animal kingdom, we are aware of a fundamental difference in kind between ourselves and our furry friends. We are not meant to die just as animals do, or be euthanized as they are. The death of a human is a more complex event that has other important realities associated with it. In euthanizing a cat or dog, an assessment about the nature of the creature is rolled up into our decision to proceed. Our pets seem to process the world around them mostly in terms of pleasure and pain, oscillating between these two poles as they instinctively gravitate towards pleasurable experiences and engage in "mechanisms of avoidance" when they come up against pain or discomfort.
Animals lack that uniquely human power to reason about, resign themselves to, and allow good to be drawn out of pain. Animals can't do much else in the face of their suffering apart from trying to skirt around it, escape the situation, or passively endure it. Because of our strong sense of empathy, humans find it more emotionally acceptable to "put the animal to sleep," rather than watch it suffer a long and agonizing death.
But it would be false empathy, and a false compassion, to promote the killing or suicide of suffering family members. As human beings, we have real moral duties, and better options, in the face of our own pain and tribulations. On an instinctual level, we tend to recoil and do our best to avoid suffering, just like animals. But we are able to respond in a way that animals cannot, and even willingly accept our suffering, which is unavoidably part of the fabric of our human existence.
None of us lives out our life without encountering some suffering, even if it may be purely internal, like the agony that comes from loneliness, isolation, depression, or rejection. Every person must, in one way or another, confront suffering along the trajectory of life, and human maturity is partially measured by how we deal with suffering. Those who live with serious disabilities, through their determined and beauty-filled lives and example, remind us every day of the good that can be drawn from suffering. The way they deal with their struggles manifests the depths of what it is to be authentically human.
It is precisely disability, with its disfigurement, impairment, vulnerability and dependence, that challenges us to grasp the outlines of our human journey in a less superficial way, and to value human life and protect human dignity in sickness as well as in health. Victoria Kennedy spoke to this same point when describing Senator Kennedy's final months: "When my husband was first diagnosed with cancer, he was told that he had only two to four months to live. ... But that prognosis was wrong. Teddy lived 15 more productive months. ... Because that first dire prediction of life expectancy was wrong, I have 15 months of cherished memories. ... When the end finally did come -- natural death with dignity -- my husband was home, attended by his doctor, surrounded by family and our priest."
As human beings, we reach beyond the limits that suffering imposes by a conscious decision to accept and grow through it, like the athlete or the Navy seal who pushes through the limits of his exhaustion during training. We enter into an awareness of something greater behind the veil of our suffering when we come to accept it as an integral component of our human condition. We also give positive example, strength and encouragement to the younger generation as they witness our response to, and acceptance of, our own suffering. Our trials and tribulations also teach us about our reliance on God and the illusions of self-reliance.
On the other hand, if our fear of suffering drives us to constant circumlocution and relentless avoidance, even to the point of short-circuiting life itself through euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, we can miss those mysterious but privileged moments that invite us to become more resplendently human, with all the messiness, awkwardness and agonies that are invariably part of that process.
_____________________________________
Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and serves as the director of education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org
TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: animals; bioethics; catholic; euthanasia; frtad; suicide
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1
posted on
01/02/2016 8:44:27 PM PST
by
Coleus
To: wagglebee; Salvation; NYer; narses
2
posted on
01/02/2016 8:45:07 PM PST
by
Coleus
(For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.)
To: Coleus
Euthanizing pets is another successful piece of death marketing - lots of money to be made to “end suffering.” Suffering for whom? I finally questioned that propaganda with my last pet that reached old age and was dying. I tried to keep my cat comfortable until she finally passed away on her own. We humans are afraid of watching a beloved pet die, so what do we do??? Go have someone else kill it for us. Doesn’t make sense to me any more, especially now that I am getting to be an old lady.
3
posted on
01/02/2016 8:59:02 PM PST
by
Sioux-san
To: Coleus
I am a Conservative that is heartbroken by the millions of healthy cats dogs that are killed by humane societies every year.
Thankfully we have good people like Mark Levin that are in agreement with me.
I know this is not the direction the thread was meant to take, it was that we generally put our pets out of their misery hopefully before they suffer too much at the end of their life.
Just that this is not the case, more healthy animals... Cats and dogs are destroyed/killed each year by so called “shelters” Spca`s etc then people realize
There are more healthy cats and dogs killed in so called shelters than their are Pets in the USA.
So I just dont accept the premise of the original question
4
posted on
01/02/2016 9:05:12 PM PST
by
Chauncey Uppercrust
(CRUZ/TRUMP 2016 OR BUST...RUBIO NO GOOD)
Comment #5 Removed by Moderator
To: fishtank
6
posted on
01/02/2016 9:19:57 PM PST
by
Coleus
(For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.)
To: Coleus
7
posted on
01/02/2016 9:25:23 PM PST
by
Salvation
("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
To: fishtank
is he a pervert also? Are you wanting his phone number?
8
posted on
01/02/2016 9:43:11 PM PST
by
Al Hitan
To: fishtank
is he a pervert also?Also? I hope you don't mean like yourself.
9
posted on
01/02/2016 10:13:19 PM PST
by
Jeff Chandler
(I shot Schroedinger's cat with Chekhov's gun.)
To: Coleus
One has to understand that old people are pure gold to the medical industry...nothing more.
YES! If someone is terminally ill and in pain and wishes to end his/her misery, they should have free choice to do so. I would do so if (and when) my time comes too.
It’s amazing to watch someone who is totally distraught over their cat dying a slow death and then “do the right thing” to put it down to end its misery...but would not do so for an elderly relation that is in a horrible world of pain and misery simply because it is perceived that it is wrong. It is especially wrong if the dying person pleads and begs to end their misery.
I don’t particularly care what “bible thumpers” think about this but when (and if) they are in terrible misery (and worse yet) placed on a machine until they finally die and could not speak or indicate in any way their wishes to be put to sleep, reap the rewards themselves of a living hell they foist on others in their condemnation of the wishes of others.
It all comes down to money for the elderly are the “cash cow” to all facets of the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical industries. They should have a banner flying over each industry stating “Don’t kill them...we are not done with them yet!”
10
posted on
01/03/2016 5:46:34 AM PST
by
DH
(Once the tainted finger of government touches anything the rot begins)
To: All
Sorry about the post. From my too quick skim of the article I thought at first he was pro-euthanasia.
Sincere apologies are offered.
11
posted on
01/03/2016 12:12:55 PM PST
by
fishtank
(The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
To: Salvation
thanks, shoebot is a frequent guest of Mike Savage. I know one born again on this thread likes savage, I wonder if they like shoebot and his article?
and then there is this oldie
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1494798/posts?page=39#39
some FReeper should look in the mirror and at their own religion before they defame others. And how many Freepers have advanced graduate degree from Yale and are neuroscientists? I bet very few.
12
posted on
01/03/2016 1:02:35 PM PST
by
Coleus
(For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.)
To: Chauncey Uppercrust
Thankfully we have good people like Mark Levin that are in agreement with me. >>
I stopped listening to him when he wrote that book and started talking about it and his experience.
The problem why we have so many cats, healthy or otherwise, is because there are too many lunatics feeding feral cats every day. A sane person understands that they are part of the wild like rats, mice, skunks, etc. and it’s part of nature that they die. Once you feed them, the balance of nature is off.
13
posted on
01/03/2016 2:59:24 PM PST
by
Coleus
(For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.)
To: Coleus; Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; ...
This is a tough argument in a secularized society where animal right have, in some instances, surpassed those of humans. (Perform an abortion on a human - no problem; try it with an animal and PETA will use the courts to have you put in jail).
Catholic ping!
14
posted on
01/03/2016 3:51:01 PM PST
by
NYer
(Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
To: NYer
And then there was Teri Schiavo.
Murdered by starvation/dehydrdation.
Do that to an animal and you go to prison for years.
15
posted on
01/03/2016 4:24:15 PM PST
by
DuncanWaring
(The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
To: NYer
You wrote: “Perform an abortion on a human - no problem; try it with an animal and PETA will use the courts to have you put in jail).”
Perhaps the pro-abortion folks will join Peta in the ‘spay & neuter’ before letting the little human biped animals get to breeding age.? (Hopefully sarcasm that will not come true.)
16
posted on
01/03/2016 5:16:43 PM PST
by
GreyFriar
(Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
To: Coleus
To: Chauncey Uppercrust
thanks for proving me right.
18
posted on
01/03/2016 8:08:27 PM PST
by
Coleus
(For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.)
To: Coleus
To: Coleus
“I know one born again on this thread likes savage,”
What do you mean by “born again”?
20
posted on
01/04/2016 8:27:49 AM PST
by
fishtank
(The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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