Euthanasia

Yesterday I got a statement from the Social Security Administration telling me how much money has been taken from me for “my” social security. This got me thinking about things that I’ve thought before, but haven’t put into a diary entry yet, so here I go.

I began to think about growing old. I thought about people who are old now, and about what my life may be like when I reach seniority. I’m not talking about just retiring, but getting into the geriatric years.

Many people who know how the social security system works and who are qualified to predict certain trends and changes within things like this say that before I actually reach retirement age, there isn’t going to be much, if any, of the money that I’ve “put away” for me to get back.

Part of the reason for this is how the system works; those who are being paid money from social security now are actually being paid the money that the people working right now are putting into the system. The idea being that when those who are working now retire, the administration will take the money from the people who will be working then and give it to the people when they retire. Technically it’s all supposed to even out so no one gets shorted, but that’s not the way forecasters are seeing it, which is why most presidential candidates talk about reforming that but never do.

When I was wondering why this system isn’t working, I realized that people now days live much longer than they used to. People live decades past the point where they actually retire and stop working and supporting themselves. And with all the advances in modern medicine, it’s possible for people to live long beyond the point where they are actually useful for pretty much anything.

This brought to mind two things. The first was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The second was the movie Logan’s Run.

The episode of Star Trek went like this. There is a planet whose sun is about to go supernova and incinerate a planet. There is a scientist who lives on the planet who has spent his whole life trying to find a way to keep this from happening. The Enterprise cruises over in order to help him carry out his plans.

He gets there and Counselor Troi’s mother falls head over heels for the dude, but he pretty much gives her the cold shoulder. Finally she asks him why, and he says he doesn’t want to get attached because he won’t be around for long. She laughs and thinks he’s kidding because he’s only in his 50’s or so. But he goes on to tell her how on his planet, the older people live their lives to the fullest, but when they hit a certain age they have what they call a Resolution.

The Resolution is basically a suicide and funeral in one. It is where a person ends their life with all their loved ones around, and their loved ones celebrate the life of the person killing themself. The people didn’t want to be a burden on the younger generations and didn’t want to live a life where their bodies became decrepit and useless; they wanted to die with dignity.

The movie Logan’s Run takes place in the future inside a massive bubble city. In this city, people’s entire existence is spent on being happy. They made machines to take care of most every task that would hinder people in their pursuit of happiness.

When people are born into this city, they are born with this colored crystal in their hand. The crystal changes color as the person ages. When the person hits the age of 30, they go to a place called Carrousel.

Carrousel is another suicide/funeral. The only difference here is that people are duped into thinking that if they go to Carrousel, they don’t die-they get renewed and reincarnated and come back to do it all again.

The whole movie is about a guy who chases down runners, who don’t buy the idea and thus don’t go to Carrousel. This guy (who also plays the antichrist in the movie The Omega Code) begins to wonder if it’s all true and becomes a runner himself.

So with all this floating in my head I began to wonder…

What’s the point of trying to exist as long as possible? Yes, I know that I don’t see a point to life in the first place, but many people either think they do or they try to. But why try and keep living so long that you are a burden on those around you, and many times to society as a whole when they all have to support you. Why try to outlive your usefulness?

Perhaps this idea stems from the fact that we modern Americans can’t face and handle death. When someone is killed in an accident, we can’t just grieve, bury the person and go on. Instead people file “wrongful death” lawsuits. In America, as I’ve pointed out in at least two previous diary entries, it is “tragic” when anyone dies. It seems that somehow Americans think that no one is supposed to die.

I’m not going to try and set out a whole plan of what I think should happen, but here’s just an idea off the top of my head. I think that there should be a certain age where people can be “retired” and kind of wind down their life, do things they’ve wanted to do, be with their family more, and stuff like that. But I think that it should be considerably shorter than what it is now.

I think that once that time is up, all public assistance to keep the person alive should be stopped. They can have the option to either do something like the Resolution, or they can try and find another private means of support (be it investments they’ve made, talk family members into doing it, whatever). But I don’t think that society as a whole should be responsible for keeping people alive as long as possible, especially when they reach the ages where it is fairly futile to keep trying.

Perhaps this is trying to “play God,” but yet people “play God” every day. Each time someone has a heart attack and it’s stopped and they live longer, someone played God and intervened in a situation that would have otherwise resulted in that person’s death. Every time someone is healed of a life threatening cancer, people are playing God and giving them more time than they would have had if nature had taken it’s course unhindered.

Every single day people play God, but somehow it’s looked on as noble and necessary when people play God in order to prolong life. But if you attempt to play God to shorten it, or let nature act without any intervention to attempt to prolong life, people can’t understand how you can think such a thing.

I know it’s probably easy for me to say this since I’m not quite 25 yet (although if I lived in Logan’s bubble I’d be pretty near the end). In all honesty though, I have enough trouble living while I’m young and I really can’t see myself living into the feeble and useless stages of life (which is more like a limbo between life and death because you have a foot in both worlds).

*

“I have never felt such frustration

Or lack of self-control

I want you to kill me

And dig me under

I wanna live no more

*

One who doesn’t care is one who shouldn’t be

I’ve tried to hide myself from what is wrong for me

*

I want to taste dirty, a stinging pistol

In my mouth, on my tongue

I want you to scrape me

From the walls

And go crazy.”

*

Alice In Chains