What I read
In the article "David Goodall: Scientist, 104, begins trip to end his life" (2018) says that Dr. David Goodall, 104-year-old scientist, want to end his life after working full-time in 1979 and there were many achievements and fulfilments in his life. He told on his recent birthday that "I greatly regret having reached that age," He wants to end his life by traveling to a clinic in Switzerland. There is a divisive debate that "Is it allowed to suicide himself in other countries by volunteering his life?" The article also discusses assisted suicide in different countries.
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| Dr Goodall is Australia's oldest working scientist |
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| Dr Goodall will be joined in Switzerland by close relatives |
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My response
In our lives, we may have heard the cliché quote that “we cannot choose where we born, but we can choose how we die.” I heard it as well, but I never really think about it. After reading this article, it made me sit down and really think about it. I just cannot imagine that there is a person who wants to assisted suicide himself on our planet. Apart from people who are faced Major Depressive Disorder(MDD), I just cannot think of anyone. I regularly heard the news that people who have a mental illness like MDD often try to kill themselves because they perceive the world differently. They always see the world only on the dark side. That’s why they do not want to live. On the other hand, people like Dr. Goodall seem like he has a great life in every area of life. He does not have a mental problem or serious dark side of life. In Thailand, most Thai people who are a Buddhism tend to pray and ask for long lives. In every Song Kran Festival, many provinces in Thailand help elderly who reach 100 years old and more celebrate their great achievement of their lives.
Last week, I went to the funeral ceremony of my mother’s friend at Hua Lam Phong temple. His mother died because of cancer. I did not go to the funeral ceremony for a very long time. As I can remember, it could be more than 10 years ago. In the past 10 years, I felt like I am far away from the word “die”. It was unexpected. Yes! Life is unexpected. If we expect lives to be perfect or to be controlled, we will pay the price for our lives. It may be true as Dr. Goodall said “I'm not happy. I want to die. It's not sad particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented.”
This article reminds me to think about the well-known book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. This book talks about the reason to live under the serious depressive circumstance in Auschwitz camp during world war II. I think everyone has a reason to live. Without a reason or purpose, there is no meaning. Dr. Goodall has a reason to live in his past century. Now, he has a reason to leave.
Sometimes, life is like seasons. But, the difference between seasons and life-seasons is that we cannot forecast it. We do not know what is next? Even Though we have planed effectively. The greatest thing that we can learn from Dr. Goodall is that try your best and make your own life decisions.
Last week, I went to the funeral ceremony of my mother’s friend at Hua Lam Phong temple. His mother died because of cancer. I did not go to the funeral ceremony for a very long time. As I can remember, it could be more than 10 years ago. In the past 10 years, I felt like I am far away from the word “die”. It was unexpected. Yes! Life is unexpected. If we expect lives to be perfect or to be controlled, we will pay the price for our lives. It may be true as Dr. Goodall said “I'm not happy. I want to die. It's not sad particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented.”
This article reminds me to think about the well-known book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. This book talks about the reason to live under the serious depressive circumstance in Auschwitz camp during world war II. I think everyone has a reason to live. Without a reason or purpose, there is no meaning. Dr. Goodall has a reason to live in his past century. Now, he has a reason to leave.
Sometimes, life is like seasons. But, the difference between seasons and life-seasons is that we cannot forecast it. We do not know what is next? Even Though we have planed effectively. The greatest thing that we can learn from Dr. Goodall is that try your best and make your own life decisions.
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My question
If you achieve everything you desire in your life, are you ready to go? Why? Why not?
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Reference
- Mao, F. (2018, May 2). David Goodall: Scientist, 104, begins trip to end his life. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43957874
Peter. I just notice that you already post this article a week ago. But, I just recently see it. when I tried to choose the news from BBC to write a response post. I felt like this article attract me and want to response. But, I think I write in different approaches when comparing with your response. I will try to response with different article next time. I am sorry.
ReplyDeleteBoom, although it is better to summarize and respond to a different article, it's not a big problem. I enjoyed the different perspective in your response.
DeleteNow that we get email updates, it will be easier to avoid repeating a classmate's chosen article.
I think every now and then I might want death if I was disabled or suffered from serious illness. However people with good condition who want to end their life are more complicated. Unless I am in their shoes, I never understand exactly how they feel. Maybe they are just tired ... in their soul. I can't help but wonder how they can be sure that whatever waiting after death will be better. This might be based on my Buddhism belief that there are something after death and I think "nothing after death" is just too easy to buy. On the other hand, I still believe that if we don't already give up on life, with a decent health, we can always find a new meaning of it like the 89-year-old Japanese lady who discover her new passion for photography and humorous selfies. This case might seem weaker than Goodall because she was much younger but I'm sure she is inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of her, but I like Kan's example of an 89-year-old woman finding a new passion for something very modern.
DeleteKan's comment also reminded me that although some people's passions seem strange to me, they obviously bring a lot of joy, and meaning to life, of others. One of my colleagues at AUA is passionate about Star Wars! I can't understand this, but then, he probably thinks that some of my passions are a bit odd.