Who's the Coward

Euthanasia has always been a contraversial topic. A number of people claim that people do not have the right to take their own lives, even if they are bedridden with a terminal and painful disease. Some will claim that it is 'a waste of life'.

If a person who is in severe depression, incoherent and unable to decide for himself commits suicide, then I would call this 'a waste of life'. But for those who have lived fruitful lives and have been able to finish all their responsibilities and commitments, whose extension of life only causes them to be a burden to themselves and society, then I feel that suicide is justifiable. To call people who end their lives due to this reason, cowards, for me is unfair. If these people are cowards, what then are the people who continue their lives, finish their relatives' life savings only to die. What did they accomplish. Would it be fair to call these people cowards since they did not allow themselves to die gracefully hanging on to their last breath and not accepting their death while they profess that they believe in an afterlife anyway.

What about people who just will themselves to die? I have long suspected, that some people can will themselves to die if they have lost all purpose in life. My maternal grandmother, had been bedridden for several years. Her husband who had no known disease at that time then requested to lie down beside her side by side so that they both die at the same time. Considering the request silly, his relatives had him wheeled out of the room in his wheelchair. In two weeks he was dead. My paternal grandfather was the head of a top 1000 company here in the Philippines. At around 96 he retired. By that time, his hearing and memory were bad. Within the year his wife died. By around 97 he died. Suicide by my grandfathers is of course ruled out, but did my grandfathers will themselves to die?

I myself would want to die in similar cases. I find no reason to prolong living should I find myself a burden to myself and society. What will be my point in living? Even for selfish purposes, I find no good reasons. I remember reading somewhere that a person's 'status' in the afterlife would be partially dependent on his mental state upon death. If this is so, then the more I would want to die with no pain and stress.