Recently the Canadian government decided to halt the mad progress of Maid which would have allowed those suffering from mental illness to have access to this horrible process.
I work with depressed, anxious and deeply traumatized clients. It is wonderful for me and a tremendous blessing, to see them heal and begin to appreciate their lives and look forward to their future. Many of my clients arrive having been unable to sleep for months and in are in a state of severe depression. I am sure that some of them would opt for the sanitzed murder that is the gas chamber (opps I meant medically assisted suicide) Many of my clients feel as if their life has no meaning and that they are a burden. When the supporters of MAID come to you, they too sing that siren song. You are a burden..you can no longer function, you are old, you are depressed why suffer why suffer end it now. Do so for those you love.
I have had clients come to me who have sat for hours in shopping centers looking at people go by and concluding that life has no meaning and looking for an opportunity to end their suffering,
MAID buys into the false narrative that infects our society that 'we should not suffer' To suffer is evil! To deprive oneself of pleasure is madness!! Suffering is such an evil that we need to take all measures possible to run from suffering.
Of course our current liturgical season of Lent is all about suffering and sacrifice and it affords tremendous graces. My clients who have gone through unimaginable pain and suffering emerge from the fire far stronger and more resilient than ever before. Like the Pheonix that arises from the ashes, so do they. Theyembrace life, and God and pass their hard earned wisdom to all they meet.
Imagine a society, a brave new world, where no one suffered. Imagine a world where if we go through tragedy and are very depressed we are offered the tantalizing choice to end our journey without pain. How many would drink from that poisoned chalice?
My role as a therapist is to speak to people about their new life which will emerge from the ashes of their pain. It is that journey that makes us compassionate, and enables us to understand those around us and in fact to accompany them. To run from pain to run from all suffering is a cowardly response away from healing and life itself.
Thankfully we postponed this heinous practice but we must continue to oppose it and turn away the darkness that whispers to us 'You are a burden..you can no longer function, you are old, you are depressed why suffer why suffer end it now. Do so for those you love.
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