Yes, it does. It establishes a relationship. I assume you don’t pray for your mom and dad? For a hedge of protections around your siblings children? How do you cope when you realize you have done wrong and your conscious convicts you? You do have a conscious don’t you?
i do not pray because i do not believe in / have no need for an imaginary relationship with something imaginary
i dont “cope”, i prefer to always do what i think is right
I’m so sorry Reg. I’m glad your country has the decency to do this.
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no
i don’t think you do
i think you grew old and bitter
They moved the day up. It was supposed to be tomorrow but it happened today. His wife couldn’t deal with him spending even one more day in the agony he was in. I got a message at 1 pm telling me to be at the hospital at 2. It was raining harder than I’ve ever seen it rain. I drove like an idiot. I made it.
We made it up to his room and his wife was outside with her sisters and another couple of friends. They brought us in immediately. He was lying on his side, unable to control his muscles. He was clearly drugged and in great pain but he was able to greet us and say hello.
We exchanged platitudes for awhile and then he said something like, “Reg, this is how it’s going to happen. They’re going to take me home at 4pm. Then a doctor will come and inject me with some stuff that will kill me. In a short time, I will be gone.”
I asked him, “Are you afraid, my brother?” He said, “No, not at all. I am at peace.”
We told him we loved him. Erika kissed him. We left his room and talked to his wife and father for some time. Then we left with a few friends to a nearby bar. Two hours later, we got the message that he had passed.
We stayed at the bar for awhile. I resisted the temptation to get drunk but I had a couple of glasses of wine. Erika did not drink, as is her custom. We told a lot of stories and swore that we wouldn’t let this break up our group of friends. Who knows if we’ll keep that promise. I hope we do but reality tends to intrude. One of us said tonight that over the coming years, perhaps decades, we will each drop like flies until there’s only one of us left and it doesn’t really matter which one of us that is. We all know that’s true. All we have is whatever we can make of that time in between now and then. Honestly, that’s probably not much, but we’ll give it what we have.
Now there’s a giant hole in our life, but I know that hole will get smaller and smaller over time. We will each move on, until it’s our turn. I can only hope that, when it’s mine, I will deal with it with the class and grace I saw in my old friend today.
Amen. I cannot imagine the idea of forcing him to live one minute longer in that state. Death is often a kindness. It was today.
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condolences
sounds like a plan!
I’m so happy for him and maybe a little jealous but I’m sorry his wife and friends have to suffer his passing and Reg, I hope you can have peace knowing he’s home. 
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i would rather not have to scroll past reggie’s essay
how many words does it take to say “dead”?
well-run boarding school
kidnapped
dead
You are the second person I know who has said she’s a bit jealous. Both women about our age, interestingly.
Did you get any sleep last night?
I slept well, knowing my old friend was out of pain.
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I would have needed oatmeal and chamomile tea and probably have woken up in a better place. I probably would have taken the next day off.
I realized today I have not called out sick since covid started.
I’ve known a few that have died of covid, but I wouldn’t call any of them friends. One of them was a genius. I wonder if he was good at chess.
This is the closest friend I’ve ever had die. I’ve also never been involved in a death where the time and place were set. In this particular case, everyone was sad but none of us wanted his suffering to continue. I think we all slept a bit better last night than we had slept the night before.
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That must have been very difficult. I hope you are alright.
51%! of the people that used it say it works great
the other 51%! say it’s less filling
A weak law, but it’s a start for the Austrians. Hopefully they loosen up in time. Canada started this way, first with a weak law and now a far more streamlined process.
Have you ever watched anyone die of cancer, Michele? I don’t know anyone who has that also questions assisted death.
No, have you ever seen a doctor treat a cancer patient with plant-based medicine that heals the body?
I don’t know anyone who would question assisted death if they were given life saving treatments. Bring the body into an alkaline state and cancer cannot survive.