Hotting up!

The voluntary euthanasia debate is alive and well this week.

With only a couple of days before submissions close, there's plenty of material in the news media.
There are many attempts at presenting the different sides of the central argument. And plenty of personal experiences being shared. We cannot avoid being aware that a fairly important issue is being opened up for public scrutiny.

But for all the diligent work by researchers and reporters, there's nothing very new out there. When I first started writing my submission some months ago, I was only too aware that the arguments on both sides were already well laid out. Since then, nothing much has changed. But it may be more evident than ever that for most of us, the issues centre around beliefs or faith or personal values rather than any objective measures of things such as "quality of life" or "good death" and so on.

A surprise for me is that my own modest video contribution has been viewed several hundred times. I didn't set out to discuss the situation as if I could convince people of the logic of my position. I just wanted to share my feelings about the situation I might find myself in some time in the future. And I'm grateful for all who shared it with others to give it such wide coverage.  And to those who have let me know that they have made a submission as a result of watching my story.

In a few days I will have to change it or take it down, as it quite specifically encourages people to get submissions in by next Monday 1st Feb. And I'd really like my next venture into YouTube to have a much less serious note... There are some funny stories, even around these most depressing of subjects, and we have to keep sharing them, too...