My right

There is a post inside of me
I'd like to write after watching tv
A post about our right to pick
To live or die if we are sick

BNM June 2011

I guess many of you didn't watch the programme on telly last night with Terry Pratchett in it. I guess many shied away from watching it because it showed a man's final moments. I, though, did watch it. And to be honest, I felt for both the men who chose assisted suicide. They both knew, I think what pain they would suffer if they let their illness progress. In a way, mum decided to choose not to live when she turned down chemotherapy when the cancer came back.

In this country assisted suicide is illegal but suicide has not been illegal since 1961. I don't know whether I could do either but I think everyone should have the choice. It is not easy for the family left behind when someone dies of natural causes and when someone takes their own life then it is a struggle to comprehend. But, if you knew that person had chosen to die, had chosen to be helped to end the pain and were happy to leave this life, maybe the struggle would be less.

We wouldn't put an animal through unneccesary pain, we would chose to euthanasia it, yet humans have to suffer pain. I think that the programme opened up a taboo which know should be discussed more.

We all have rights, let one of them be the right to choose how we live our own lives, what we write and whether we choose to die with dignity.

BNM