no real title again

Here I am again, late Saturday night. Today's the day when us unfortunate habitants of Toronto lose an hour of sleep. Perfect time to be wide awake at this hour. I tossed and I turned in my bed for over an hour, and I just can't fall asleep. I figured if I poured out my thoughts and emotions on this, I would be exhausted and have a clear mind when I go back to bed.

Let's refer back to the topic I spoke of in my previous entry a few hours ago. With the recent events that have been going on, specifically the Schiavo case and the passing of Pope John Paul II, I've been thinking about the controverseys on determining a person's life and death.

I don't know too much about the Schiavo case, but from the bits and pieces I hear and read from the news, she has been denied further medical support and nutrition, and is left to starve to death. What a horrific and agonizing way to go. Do we have the right to decide whether a person lives or dies? Or even whether we ourselves live or die? As a Christian, I know God breathed life into every one of us. It is not our choice to end our lives whenever we wish. Life is not ours to take away. Life was never ours.

But at the same time, do we have the right to postpone death? If a person's body is so badly damaged that they cannot survive on their own, do we have the right to delay their meeting with God? What is the reason to live, if living is no more than suffering? And I don't mean suffering as Job suffered, but paralyzed on a hospital bed, knowing your body is deteriorating gradually with no chance of recovery, when thoughts and feelings cannot be put into action and you're nothing but a waste of money, energy, and time for those around you. Is this not a form of torture as well?

Some may argue that God gave humans the ability to heal the human body to the point of survival, and thus must be what God intended for the doctors to do. God, however, also gave humans the ability to clone, and that's immoral by His standards. Just because we are capable, it does not always mean we should take action.

So what choices are we left with, if leaving someone to die is just as bad as keeping one alive to suffer? It is always in my best interest to take away the pain of others, and in this case, it would be death. But surely there must be a better way to end one's misery than to starve them. If I were the doctor and the patient's death would be my responsibility, I would carry it out swiftly. A painles injection would be ideal in my opinion. However, I also believe that current technology is not completely reliable. A test that shows a patient has no chance of recovering can easily be flawed, and such errors have occured I'm sure. I would never forgive myself if I denied a person's chance to live.

This is a very delicate situation that society faces today, if not the most significant. I'm not gonna try to come up with a solution to this problem. I've taxed myself writing this piece. My plan is successful. Goodnight/morning to you all.