I was moved to tears when I read that Brittany Maynard, 29, a victim of terminal brain cancer, had ended her life last Saturday. She became a fierce champion of the “death with dignity” movement, advocating that people have the right to choose when — and how — to die.
Her website makes no mention of God, so I think it’s safe to assume she didn’t share the beliefs Christians embrace as starting points. First, our lives are gifts from God. We don’t choose the moment of our conception or the time of our birth. Nor do we get a say in our genetic structure, our parents or our race.
Many people long to be at the helm, however. In pregnancy, they clamor for genetic testing to discover if the baby has an inherent flaw linked to specific diseases. If so, they may decide to abort the child. As for death, they want something dignified—and failing that, the legal right to commit suicide with the use of a lethal prescription.
Christians see human beings as having an inherent, God-given dignity that nothing – and no one — can take away. This dignity extends to people in wheelchairs, people in comas, old folks in serious decline — and the dying.
We also live by “Not my will, but thine, be done,” the words uttered by Christ the night before his horrendous death by crucifixion. Naked, bloody, beaten, spat upon, he died in brutal circumstances. Whatever comes to us — a quick death or a long tortuous trial – his example assures us suffering never has the final word.
Back in January doctors told Brittany she had six months to live, and she’d soon be bedridden. Months later she went on a 10-mile hike with a friend — and she was still alive in October. Who knows how much longer she really had? And what else she might have done? Not arduous walks, but something more important.
The video in which she announced her decision to commit suicide went viral. Contrast that with the millions of people who get no notice at all, the ones who quietly wait for God to call the shots.
One was my friend, Margaret, who died at 99. By then, she was nearly blind and deaf, and in a wheelchair. She still, however, ministered to people by encouraging words over the phone. She still spent hours a day praying for her friends. No one could take away the purpose of her life.
What else might have happened in whatever time Brittany had left? More suffering, yes, and how hard that would be on her and her family. But people’s hearts can be fine-tuned by bestowing compassion — which means “suffering with”— on others.
I wish Brittany had realized dying people can still teach lessons. About surrendering to the care of others. About letting go of this life gradually while reaching for the next one. And courageously accepting whatever God sends.
Even in dying, we have something to give the world. Something we’re all put on earth to do. And that is serving as a model of light and love in a realm of darkness.
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