Legacy Matters

What's the Point?

From Thoughts of a Life's End by The Doctor is In who's recently moved his office.

The moral and ethical dilemmas which have arisen from our dramatic improvements in emergency care go straight to the heart of what it means to be human, to be alive, to have meaning and quality in life. If one must use a pigeonhole, I would certainly be classified as a pro-life proponent. Life is perhaps the most precious gift given by our Creator, and cannot simply be measured by a superficial standard such as health, mobility, or even lucid mentation. Yet life is a gift, and not a god. As I have written in Dancing with Death, dying itself is also an integral part of life, and irrational and misguided attempts to prolong it can be very destructive, demeaning, and degrading to its dignity.

He has some very useful guideposts.
• Life is more than any of its components.
• When the individual's outlook from a life-threatening acute or chronic illness is optimistic, or at least reasonably uncertain, we should choose to preserve life.
• Those who have lost all functioning mental, social, and relational abilities, but whose underlying condition is not a threat to life (e.g., persistent vegetative state), should be sustained with basic care and life support.
• Patient and family input on end of life decisions is vital, but not absolute.

What he alludes at the end is something I've been meaning to write about.  If you believe as I do that mankind is continually evolving towards a greater, more cosmic consciousness, than you must wonder what purpose is served by people in "persistent vegetative states."  The doctor quotes one reader who said,

in expecting us to care for and continue to love those who no longer have the capacity to give anything in return, God invites us to pick up the cross. It’s not really about them anymore, it’s about us and what we are willing to give of ourselves in response to the challenge. I have watched hours of coverage regarding the Schiavo controversy; not once has anyone suggested that Terri’s suffering presents an opportunity for her family to give of itself purely…

I agree with this reader, but fear that too many people are put off by the idea of carrying any cross, a symbol once readily understood, now off-putting to too many.    Their thinking is narcissistic - what would I do, what would I want.  They never ask, what can I learn from this, how can I grow from this.  Thinking only of themselves, they fail to grasp  the interdependence, the interpenetration of all life. 

Perhaps, the "purpose" of the totally dependent is to expand the consciousness of their loved ones, those around them.  I've spent some time reading stories of the people who do care for their family members who are profoundly disabled.  A few can not bear it and leave.  Many express an enormous sense of personal and spiritual growth.  These are the ordinary people who make life on this earth better, not just by their acts, but by the greater spiritual energies they possess, affecting all of us for the better.   

Boomers beware.  It takes little effort to decide an elderly grandmother  doesn't have a quality of life worth living in the eyes of their too pressed, stressed and greedy children or grandchildren.  It's easier, more convenient for all concerned.  In terms of the universe, it's weak.

It takes strong souls and stout hearts to continue to care for someone who doesn't recognize them anymore and who is difficult and cranky.  But what an opportunity to make love, to create love, to add to the loving energies of the universe.  These are the people I want to spend the future with.