Can we, as a society or nation, ever hope to achieve the title of Dr. Wayne Dyer when he wrote the book "I Can See Clearly Now"? Will we, can we, attain a position where we seek the best solution to a question that we deal with individually in a personal way but must be settled by society as a whole?
Here in Benton County we have been hashing out a question concerning ambulance service to the rural areas of the county and every solution seems to come back to the same outcome -- subsidize the current Advanced Life Support services to run into the rural areas. Everyone has an idea on the issue but we have no final solution at this writing.
My purpose in this article is much the same kind of situation in my mind and depending on your views about any of the issues that follow, you can argue at great length with no answer that is acceptable to society.
Having said that, consider the case of how to fulfill the penalty of death in a capital punishment judgment. It seems every time someone is executed those who oppose capital punishment use the news media to deplore the method. Recently an execution in another state was reported with gruesome details by one account and normal conditions by another. The account claiming the "drug concoction" was inhumane also feels that execution for any crime is ineffective as a deterrent and inhumane regardless of how it is done. It is difficult to believe those persons have ever lost a loved one to a serial killer or had someone close to them die at the hand of someone who enjoyed the experience of killing and had no remorse. But, this is not an argument for or against capital punishment. If the need is there for a humane way to deal with the execution, why not look to the experience of Dr. Jack Kevorkian who was known by some as Dr. Death. His suicide machine was apparently effective and stood the test of family members who witnessed its use on those they loved. Wouldn't that solve one question?
There was a time, not too long ago, when the news media carried lots of stories about Dr. Kevorkian's experiences and one individual was filmed with family about the incident. A recent death of a friend after being diagnosed with a terminal illness brought all of this to mind.
Our family has lost numerous members over the years that I remember and not all experiences were pleasant. Some of the illnesses were prolonged, years in fact, with Alzheimer's symptoms gradually taking away the faculties that make life worthwhile. Others with various illnesses suffered for weeks with incurable cancer, producing seemingly endless periods of physical pain and suffering that makes the report of two hours of "suffering" during the previously mentioned execution sound like an inconvenience, certainly not a painful and agonizing death.
Having recently spent time with an ailing person who was vibrant and active until the last few weeks, I can't help questioning what we expect from the transition from this life into the next. Had there been an easy way to avoid being in bed under heavy sedation would this person have chosen it over the events as they unfolded? When we had discussed death and our expectations of life without this world's troubles this person expressed no fear and actually sought to reach a point of death much sooner than the timetable as it worked out. I wonder how many people making the decision to die a "natural death" actually have the process work out as they expected.
In the early stages of my grandfather's terminal illness when I was a teenager, it was my pleasure to shave him regularly. As the illness progressed and he was too weak for me to handle the responsibility, it fell to others and finally he required 24-hour per day care at home. His suffering was shared by all the caregivers and the family who were helpless to alleviate the discomfort. I wonder if that would have been his choice if there had been an alternative. I am not promoting euthanasia, just hoping a few people will take time to see where our society stands on the issue of dying.
We cannot make decisions for others and death is always a mystery until we experience it. Dr. Kevorkian was imprisoned for eight years for his efforts to expose a way for people to chose a different alternative way of dying. He died June 3, 2011. I never witnessed his "death machine" in use except in film, but our society might be able to benefit from his efforts. Maybe we need to look at the capital punishment issue from his perspective and try to develop a personal attitude about suffering. The world is never going to be a perfect place when we deal with the issue of death.
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 08/13/2014