I appreciate the subject brought up in the Feb. 9th Foothills Focus by Jerry Dincin, Phd. The article supported a person’s right to choose when to voluntarily die due to chronic incurable pain and/or illness leading without doubt to a slow painful death.Besides the legal issues I believe this raises questions of morality and values that extend outward into the expanded fabric of our society.
As a culture during the last century we have seen America slowly shift from quality to quantity. I believe this is the result of a capitalistic system of economy meant to function reasonably because of the simple principle of supply and demand. In a pure form this is wonderful and Machiavelli's “invisible hand” creates fairness to both the maker and taker of products and services. However, today we have some variables that pervade and corrupt the simplicity that once existed. Corporations (oil, media, etc.) found ways to go around anti-monopoly laws that ensured fair competition which resulted in mergers into giant corporate powers dominating the markets, further influencing/controlling legislation ever in their favor corrupting what was once a simple system of balances that true capitalism operates and thrives from.
Small family type run businesses have been undersold and put out of competition by humongous corporate retailers able to sell more products cheaply by buying at discounted bulk prices.
The other factor that sells is (or once was) quality. If 2 people offered shoes for the same price-all other things being equal-the better made shoe would outsell the inferior one. This is the foundation for a true (and fair) capitalistic economic system. This has changed in these modern times where the idea of fair profit has been replaced with the driving force of growth which has become more important than profits themselves.
What makes an economy grow is extreme consumerism and credit which as we all know leads to debt which at some unknown point in time will grow too large to afford be it individual or country.
The idea of “delaying gratification” or living within ones means has been exchanged for the why-wait-get-it-now-and-pay forever plan.
Inevitably, this catches up to us all as individuals and currently collectively as a society. Ironic that government is reluctant to reduce spending and reducing the deficit
out of fear that our slowly recovering economy will lose what little momentum it has gained if we decrease spending. A delicate situation. A rock and a hard place; there seems to be no win-win solution on the table.
Digression; Back in the 50’s a CEO for GM came up with an idea that revolutionized the automobile industry; create the need for more frequent car purchases from the consumer. How? Easy-take all that energy, research and engineering that went into producing the best possible automobile and put it into obvious design changes in style yearly and every third year, make those changes more dramatic. Then present the idea through television and sit back and watch. The result? Your two to three year old car now looks pretty shabby next to your neighbor’s brand new upgraded model in his driveway. Your now antiquated car has become old and obsolete.
Speaking of obsolete, why do we put up with this built in obsolescence? Did you know that some companies pay their engineers a bonus for making a computer that lasts only briefly past the two year warranty time? Is there a good reason why the earplugs in my old cell phone do not work in my new one although I bought the same brand? Add a hands free driving law to the upgrade and you HAVE to purchase another plug or you’re illegal!
On the other hand we built a small remote control rover that explored Martian terrain for years beyond scientists expectations yet we cannot produce a tire that gets more than 20,000 miles?
Why do we put up with this nonsense! Perhaps it is because we are addicts addicted to new better faster. We are addicted to shopping.
Product makers as well as services providers now subscribe to this economic philosophy. The one that says, it doesn’t pay to make a product that lasts -we will sell more and make more profit if we create a more frequent need too buy anew. Welcome to Amore-ica ladies ands gentlemen where more is better! And yes, I know there are quality brands of clothing and autos and furniture that are beautifully crafted with the finest materials that do endure but most of us regular folks can’t afford the ticket price of these high end products so we end up buying what we can afford at Walmart and then ironically we spend more money replacing them time and again. You get what you pay for. Or do you?
If it wasn’t for the invasion of the German Volkswagon in the 60’s and the Japanese Datsun in the 70’s we wouldn’t have needed to improve the mechanics of American made vehicles at all; we could just go on making esthetically pleasing shapes with wheels.
This argument of mine has gone off on a strange but related tangent to the original point of this article, point being that we have become enamored of quantity of life over it’s quality. So what if we can prolong a life 5, 10, 15 years if that life has reached a condition debilitating enough to call it quits. Transplants and new drugs and gadgets that manage conditions are great if the person still feels life is worth living. It’s great if a person is up and about in their 90’s, productive and healthy enough to still enjoy them selves but shouldn’t that be a personal and private choice? Do we really need laws that prohibit us from helping to put our loved ones out of their misery?
My father lived until he was 96. The last few years of his life he wasn’t very present nor capable of taking care of himself. He had many conditions contributing to his debilitation but after 90 years, who wouldn’t. Did this man need the pacemaker which prolonged his life beyond his own capacity to enjoy or even be aware of it? The combination of drugs rendered him incoherent most of the time. He said point blank to me in lucid moments that he didn’t know why he was still hanging around.
My father assisted his own parents to die when “they” were ready. He told me that this was the way it was always done in the old country.
My mother who was dying slowly and painfully from advanced cancers asked out loud for “this horror to end”. I asked her if she knew what she was saying twice. She assured me that she knew what she was asking for. I was on the phone with hospice
to ascertain what a fatal dose of morphine would be when she passed naturally, gratefully...
The emphasis on quantity without quality has infected our modern culture along with many other so-called “developed countries” at many levels. Are we sure of what we are developing?
I think the questions posed are important to ask. What are our intentions, our motivations? It seems to me we are out of balance as a society; millions of us are are anti depressants, others self medicate with alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex and the like. We spend billions of dollars annually altering our appearances in the deluded hope that we will somehow attract happiness or the “right person” into our lives and then we will be happy. I heard on NPR the other day that we spent 3 billion dollars on border patrol last year which stopped half a million would be illegal immigrants. If we took that six thousand dollars per person and invested it in helping them to set up businesses and farms in Mexico, helping to make them self sufficient, then maybe they wouldn’t be knocking our door down.
I don’t know what the answers are but if we pull our heads out of the desert sand, wake up and pay attention to all that is going on here on earth; get into integrity with our true values and what really matters to us; collaborate and cooperate for the highest common good instead of continuing fearfully to compete as if there is not enough to go around I think we could make this world a safer, saner and happier place to live. Yes I know-I’m a terminal idealist. Whatever...
