Human Different
From Animals

Physician-assisted suicide is being debated.

We have always had such an act toward our farm animals—"Put them out of their misery." "She (the dog) was suffering; we put her to sleep."

But we humans are a far cry from animals. We are made in the image of our Creator, given a spirit, far more than mere flesh and blood. There is an awesome reverence for human life, far different than that given an animal.

We currently have the choice to refuse all medical treatment. We currently have access to pain medications, and many types of support at the end of our lives.

It is stepping over a line to actively choose to end human life. The possibilities for abuse when that door has been opened are shocking. We cannot blur that shock by such niceties as "death with dignity." We instead must give all human life that dignity by refusing to lower and equate ourselves with animals.

Please do not think I am looking at this issue from afar. Caring for my husband throughout his fight with a cancer that stripped him of all—his voice, his ability to eat, finally, even to walk—all but his heart and spirit, made me a far better woman. Made my son a champion. Made my daughter able to hold babies dying from AIDS in Africa. The "power of the powerless." Please consider the sanctity of all human life.

Bette Lambert

Randolph Center

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