Euthanasia

One way to deal with a difficult time is to think of a bigger difficulty. That, at least to me, gives some patience to go through it and relief. It also gives me power to deal with the current difficulty. During Covid lock downs, I thought at least me and my family are safe at home. During a severe car accident where my car was damaged and written off, I thought at least I was not injured or had any broken bones. So in a way, every difficulty can be relative. There can be something worse than what you are in.

I realise Euthanasia is an extremely sensitive issue. It is generally where people will be in a long term disease, or too old or frail and wish for end of sufferings. A logical thought process. Wishing for an end to life, so the sufferings end with it. But what is the guarantee that sufferings will end?

To build further, I want to take you to a different topic. Many in modern West wont believe in heaven or hell. Many think that as we die, thats it. Everything stops there.

So just to give another perspective about heaven or hell, I am sure you would like the evil in this world to have some kind of consequences even if they are dead. We all want the terrorists and criminals to not have peace after death. Or conversely, why do we say "rest in peace' when someone dies? Is it just an old fashioned tradition or a religious fantasy?

For arguments sake, if you think heaven and hell do not exist, does it mean all the terrorists or criminals who committed terrible crimes and then committed suicides got away with it? People who kill others and die, ruining so many lives and families, do they just get away with it? Are they not answerable or punishable? If so, any old or miserable person who wants to finish his or her life can commit a crime and then kill themselves without any consequences because they have died? Does it make sense to you? Do the criminals of Manchester bombings got away with it? Do the criminals of 9/11 got away with it? Should they not be punished wherever they are? Should they not rot in hell? Do you think the end of such criminal's life is enough as a punishment?

Religions tell us about heaven and hell but if you don't want to believe in any religion, does the above argument not make you think? Will it not make sense if such criminals or terrorists are punished even after they are dead? and the good ones, rewarded?

Coming back to original topic, while with a disease, the sufferings may be there, which as mentioned above could be relative, we never know whether the sufferings of a chronic disease are more, or less than what is kept for us next. Have we lived our lives to qualify for heaven, before we wish for euthanasia? Have we spent our lives to be eligible to enter the heaven created by the Lord or otherwise the result of euthanasia may end us up in relatively more sufferings.

This was not meant to hurt anyone's feelings but was to prepare us to be worthy of heaven before we wish for death, otherwise the pain and difficulty of hell may be too much relative to that of a chronic disease. While we are alive, we can look at the 'curriculum of Heaven' and be prepared so the journey afterwards is pain free.

Signing off

Ahsan Mughal