Then, in my opinion...and this is my opnion alone...you are one of the most selfish people I have ever come across. 99.9% of people would say they wouldn't want to be kept alive, and you know why? Because of the toll it takes on OTHER people...on the people you love...the effect it has on the people you love. That's why I think it's selfish.
The selfish folks are the people in the medical field who "terminate" patients.
I imagine that very few beneficial medical breakthroughs are made by the medical nihilists who think killing is the best answer to injury and disease.
I think Howard needs to come clean up the Coco Puffs again. You won't believe who spilled them this time.
You are most certainly entitled to your opinion. If you see the gift of life as selfish, then so be it. However, I find your idea of selfishness to be absurd.
I am absolutely certain the Schindlers didn't view caring for Terri and loving her as a burden. That should have been obvious to even you, Hildy. If they say it wasn't a burden, then would Terri have been selfish for wanting to live in her condition?
Is an infant selfish for wanting to live?
Is Haleigh selfish for wanting to live?
Is President Ford selfish for wanting to live?
Are tsunami survivors selfish for wanting to live?
Just think for a minute how ridiculous it is to say that someone is selfish for wanting to live, to be kept alive, by being cared for and loved. The desire to be loved and cared for is a basic human need, Hildy, even for you!!
If you are so hip on the idea of being unselfish, then why are you still alive? Why haven't you committed suicide? If you follow your logic, Hildy, then you yourself are being selfish!
For the record, I really don't believe that you're selfish for wanting to be loved and cared about, Hildy. Please don't off yourself. It wouldn't make me feel any better about you. Quite the opposite, actually. I would feel badly if you committed suicide.
Maybe they are gullibly listening to the impious generalization that is being kept alive in the media. It goes something like this
People who need much help should get "out of the way" of their more robust fellow humansSounds barbaric (no insult meant to barbarians)
"....99.9% of people would say they wouldn't want to be kept alive, and you know why? Because of the toll it takes on OTHER people...on the people you love...the effect it has on the people you love. That's why I think it's selfish."
Selfish is making sick people FEEL that they are a toll.
In my family, we LOVE my dad who has Alzheimer's, and would rather have him alive, despite the added work. That is what TRUE love is.
You say that you regard caring for another as a burden, a toll, an imposition.
Let me suggest that the people who inspire us in life see the opposite. They see caring for a loved one as a joy and fulfillment in life. These are the quiet heroes. Yes, they bear a real burden, but bearing that burden is their glory, not something to grumble about.
For instance, we all know of some young couple who gave up their own comforts and recreations in order faithfully to nurse and comfort a disabled child. It doesn't matter whether the child is doomed to die, or may always be handicapped, or will eventually recover. For parents like this, love will not waver. It will shield the child whatever the future brings.
Equally inspiring -- and we often see this -- is an elderly couple taking care of each other, one perhaps pushing a wheel chair for the other, coping with life as they can, still devoted to one another near the end of a long life together. They are going down one of life's toughest roads, as Art Linkletter reminded us with his book, "Old Age Is not for Sissies." But they bear it with love, not with complaints.
There are, of course, many more examples like these. I'll just mention one more to think about: the nursing profession is built on the kind of love that money can't buy. God love dedicated nurses! They give more than anyone could ask. They take home far more than their paycheck.