An Act of Love | Teen Ink

An Act of Love

May 30, 2010
By Reggie BRONZE, Clewiston, Florida
Reggie BRONZE, Clewiston, Florida
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The concern of a family member or loved one is felt deep within one’s soul. We all as humans want someone to care and love us for whom we are. These people are there through the good and the bad and we expect them to be there when there needed. The act of voluntary euthanasia shows the love that we have accumulated for that person. Why not allow a loved one to make such decisions when the ones they care about can’t. The word love means to have a strong positive emotion of regard and affection for someone. Love helps us explain why voluntary euthanasia should be allowed throughout our nation.

When a person carries out an act of euthanasia, they bring about the death of another person because they believe the latter's present existence is so bad that he/she would be better off dead, or believes that unless they intervene and end the sufferers life, it will become so bad that they would be better off dead. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)


Throughout human life, we have experiences that we share with other individuals. We spend the holidays, which are known as the most wonderful times of the year, with friends and family. We, as humans, grow feelings for one another when we spend time with each other. Through times of suffering, we come together as one to bring joy to an individual’s life. When a person’s life becomes unbearable and there is no hope of the individual getting better, then what are we, as loved ones, supposed to do. The pain and suffering that they are feeling can be found torturing us deep within. We all have felt such pain or seen someone go through pain due to the suffering of a loved on. So why allow such things to continue. If we’re suffering and we’re not the one in pain, envision what the one with the issues are going through.


Every human being has a right to life, perhaps the most basic and fundamental of all our rights.(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) However, with every right comes a choice. The right to speech does not remove the option to remain silent; the right to vote brings with it the right to abstain. In the same way, the right to choose to die is implicit in the right to life. America is known as the land of the free. We have the right to make our own decisions and choose who can make decisions for us in times of need so why can’t we choose to die. We as human being must sit back and observe the world for what it is. The world that we have come to “love” has brought about terrible downsides to the human race. Every day thousands of individuals are brought into this world and thousands are carried out. There are diseases among our human race that we are prone to obtain. Among these diseases and illnesses are the incurable and despicable one that can make the rest of a humans life a living hell. While some tend too want to live and suffer others choose not to. Why make someone suffer if this is a free nation and we are allowed to make our own decision. We can choose things as simple as what we want to eat for dinner to things as complicated as what career we want to spend the rest of our lives doing. Throughout the history of our nation we have been able to help others understand the world so why cant the world understand our decisions. Why not allow us as humans living in this free nation to choose when we want to die and who can make that decision for us.


Many concerns surrounding the act of voluntary euthanasia have been raised since this very controversial idea started. One of the major concerns is involuntary euthanasia. Involuntary euthanasia is where a person is either not competent to, or unable to, express a wish about euthanasia and there is no one authorized to make a substituted judgment. The concerns of involuntary euthanasia can easily be omitted if voluntary euthanasia is made a law. The concerns of euthanasia are very understandable but we must also think about those that are suffering. If euthanasia is made a law it would control such issues. Yes, of course the laws surrounding this act must be very strict to control such acts of involuntary euthanasia. The law must include who can take part of this decision, what circumstances can it be allowed in, and a doctors recommendation to ensure that it isn’t abused.

Yes, it is understood that their will still be controversy surrounding voluntary euthanasia but we must considering others. We must consider if their will one day be a cure for such unbearable illnesses and how long before it is found. We must consider how much pain they are enduring and if the treatment will be affordable if found. Most importantly we must think of the individual in pain. Would they want to continue suffering if they are unable to decide and for how long. Many are against voluntary euthanasia because they say it an act of suicide. We must consider when discriminating among what an individuals wants. We must think of what we want if we were placed in such horrible conditions. We must also consider the statistics of place that have made voluntary euthanasia legal. “In Holland, nearly twenty per cent of the deaths of that country every single year, 19.4% specifically, are a result of euthanasia. One in five people in Holland are euthanized…” (Gregory Koukl, Founder and President of Stand to Reason,). If statistics show that those that are suffering want to die why aren’t we allowing in the place know as “The Land of The Free”. We must consider not only our beliefs but the beliefs of others. We have the right to live, so why cant we have the right to die.


The author's comments:
This topic came about when I had to choose a topic to write a paper on in my AP English class. Before then I had never heard of Euthanasia, but after researching the topic I felt that it was necessary to write a paper on the topic because it is a very important matter.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.