Remember that every day is a blessing

Re: Broaden the use of assisted suicide, May 26

I will be 80 years old in three months and have the aches and pains to prove it. I have suffered tragedies, as have countless others my age who are still around. It’s all part of living.

I don’t know if I’ll end up in one of these care homes that everyone dreads but I don’t waste any time dwelling on this. I’ve got more things to learn, more travelling to do and more people to love. Every morning when I wake up I thank God for giving me another day and I hum as I struggle out of bed.

Years ago, when I first read about assisted suicide (which is really a euphemism for aiding and abetting murder) I was sure that we were heading down a very slippery slope. And here we are. I’ve already read that children who suffer an incurable disease, the disabled, the mentally ill, those who fear disease and suffering, those who are fed up with living, need to be allowed and should be helped to commit suicide. Now it’s “healthy people, of sound mind” and “financial considerations.”

I am a practising Catholic and, as such, I know that euthanasia and suicide are categorically forbidden in the Catholic Church. In article 2277 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church it is stated unequivocally, “Thus, an act or omission which, of itself, or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and the respect due to the living God, the Creator.” The sections on euthanasia could not be any clearer.

I know that every day is a gift. On my refrigerator door is a small picture of Jonathan Pitre. Whenever I suspect I’m going to have a difficult day, I see Jonathan’s smile and I straighten up and get on with living.

And a little child shall lead them ...

Madeleine Rivest, Ottawa