Valuing Life in the Face of Death

Our culture has a problem facing death.  This is seen in everything from the death penalty, abortion, foreign policy, to the acceptance of suicide.  While this list may seem like we have embraced death well, we have not.  There is one thing in common between the way we put our guilty to death, murder our unborn, kill foreigners, and praise suicide; they all place the horrible reality of death out of sight.  We want our nation’s guilty to be sentenced to death, but we do not want to watch it happen.  We are fine with encouraging others to kill their babies, but would certainly never want to watch that happen, either.  We are fine with our nation being engaged in a perpetual state of war, as long as the atrocities are committed far from our own homes.  We do not want to be faced with the discomfort of watching a loved one slowly die before our eyes.  We would rather the sick be removed from our sight, now. 

Death is repugnant.  Death is profane.  To some extent I think we grasp this or we would not avoid it so.  On the occasion that we are forced to face the grotesque reality of death, we try to change our perception of it in our minds.  When someone commits suicide, we call it “brave.”  When someone commits suicide in the face of a terminal illness, we call it “dignified.”  Never believe that suicide is “dignified.”  Never let anyone tell you that suicide is “brave.”  Those are lies.  There is nothing dignified about death.  Death is a heinous molestation of that which was once bright and beautiful.  While there may be bravery in death, as is seen when one lays down their life for another, there is nothing brave about self-murder.  I have seen close friends and family die from both agonizing illness and from suicide.  The former was brave, the latter was not, yet neither was dignified.  

As uncomfortable as it may be, facing death helps us value life and see that this value is intrinsic.  Life’s value is independent of our perception of one’s usefulness.  Life’s value is independent of our ever fluctuating standard of what is deemed as “quality of life.”