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In lieu of life content, a comment
Sep. 4th, 2012 10:30 pmA person can not save anyone, anything, any other being, other then themselves.
I think it is a very sad commentary on the state of our society that we can, if we choose to do so, allow our pets to die with less suffering and less invasive and uncomfortable care than we force upon our human companions. It's a hard question to answer: "when is enough?" In my personal practice I try to balance quality of life/quality of care of the critters in my charge vs my own. There is a time to cut the cord. It pains me to see needless suffering, of anyone.
I remember watching my mother die of breast cancer. One might just say "fuck cancer, lets find a cure" but that doesn't help those who are suffering right now. Even my mother, for whom I have no love lost, did not deserve that suffering and drawn out death. Drawn out not because she hadn't the means to end it sooner (she did) but because she was afraid to die. Our society so dishonors death that most of us fear it for the sheer stigma. Death is only another transition that our bodies go through. Whether or not one believes in God, or an afterlife, or nothing, the ones who are most pained by death are those of us left beind. Why do we insist on inflicting needless, sometimes excessive, suffering, to spare ourselves a few days or hours before we must grieve. Which we do, for ourselves, for missing our companions, but not for them. They are free of pain, and have no need of our grief.
I think it is a very sad commentary on the state of our society that we can, if we choose to do so, allow our pets to die with less suffering and less invasive and uncomfortable care than we force upon our human companions. It's a hard question to answer: "when is enough?" In my personal practice I try to balance quality of life/quality of care of the critters in my charge vs my own. There is a time to cut the cord. It pains me to see needless suffering, of anyone.
I remember watching my mother die of breast cancer. One might just say "fuck cancer, lets find a cure" but that doesn't help those who are suffering right now. Even my mother, for whom I have no love lost, did not deserve that suffering and drawn out death. Drawn out not because she hadn't the means to end it sooner (she did) but because she was afraid to die. Our society so dishonors death that most of us fear it for the sheer stigma. Death is only another transition that our bodies go through. Whether or not one believes in God, or an afterlife, or nothing, the ones who are most pained by death are those of us left beind. Why do we insist on inflicting needless, sometimes excessive, suffering, to spare ourselves a few days or hours before we must grieve. Which we do, for ourselves, for missing our companions, but not for them. They are free of pain, and have no need of our grief.
