Chaplain's Corner

You may have heard the same news report that I did. This was the headline: “Winnipeg woman seeks help to die in Europe: Assisted suicide is illegal in Canada, but legal in Switzerland” CBC News reported on April 8th that “Susan Griffiths, 72, has left loved ones and friends behind to carry out a planned assisted suicide.”

I have no doubts that every one of us has an opinion on assisted suicide. Some of our opinions are purely academic, others of us have worked with those who have a disease like the one Mrs. Griffiths has and have seen what these diseases do. In the last 14 years I have worked in environments where I have witnessed the ravages of these diseases on people’s lives and dignity. In most of the Personal Care Homes in our region, there are individuals whose lives have been dramatically changed by debilitating diseases and the tragic trajectory that these diseases impose of those who have them. Diseases like Multi-system Atrophy, ALS, MS, Parkinson’s disease and even some dementias which strip a person of their capacity to live without intervention for every aspect of life. To watch this happening is hard.

I’ll be honest; I have had people ask me to help them die, to assist them in committing suicide. I have felt deeply their pain, their helplessness, their utter sense of having every bit of dignity stripped away. I have been tempted, I have wished that I could help, I have wondered about God’s mercy as I have watched people die. Despite my deep conviction that life and death forever belong in the hands of God, have struggled in my own soul over the desperate requests that are made but that I can not, nor can anyone else in Canada, respond to without breaking the law.

Do I think assisted suicide happens in Canada? Yes, more often than any of us would be willing to admit. The vast majority of time, nothing is done, no autopsy is required, and those who are involved rationalize the assistance as heroic acts of mercy. I understand. It is difficult to stand face to face with this kind of suffering and not have a desire to do something to alleviate it, even if it means stepping in and ending a person’s life.

I’m sure that I will not be the only person who will hear Mrs. Griffiths story and pause to contemplate her decision and the broader issues that her decision raises. But I trust that as we contemplate her decision, agreeing or disagreeing – that we will not forsake the human responsibility to be compassionate.

When this kind of matter is raised immediately, whether we are conscious of it or not, our moral, ethical and often religious “tuning forks” begin to vibrate: we often call this our conscience. Depending of how sensitized we were by our parents, a religious tradition, our own natural sensitivities, and these “forks” may create considerable noise in our soul or barely a sound. Often, we have been trained to respond immediately with considerable judgment to issues like assisted suicide. In our desire to take a stand for what is “right” against something that is “wrong” we can adopt a “take no prisoners” kind of zeal that will not allow us to enter into a dialogue with those who take a position different than our own.

Now don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not advocating that we go soft on our convictions. I am not suggesting that it is not proper to have moral, ethical and religious conviction that we are willing to stand up for – no matter what anyone may think of us for talking such a stand. What I am suggesting is that we hold our convictions with compassion for others. If Mrs. Griffiths had come to me to discuss her desire to seek assisted suicide, ultimately I would have recommended another alternative, but I hope that I would have engaged the discussion with sensitivity, respect and a depth of compassion that would let her know that despite my inability to support her decision, I cared deeply for the her and the suffering she has and will have to endure.

If you are interested in the debate I would recommend that you check out this website. Here you will find an excerpt from a brief submitted to the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (Canada) by Dick Sobsey Ph.D. of the University of Alberta titled: 12 Problems With Assisted Suicide. Dr. Sobsey does not present religious arguments, but ethical considerations and questions regarding the claims of the pro-assisted suicide folks that need to be carefully considered.

For my purposes though, I want to come back to compassion. If we confront this kind of suffering and we have no compassion, if we are not moved deeply by the suffering, we need to ask ourselves why? Why can we confront this kind of suffering without being moved with compassion? Why is being right more important than loving the person who may make a decision that we can not embrace? Have we forgotten Jesus’ own injunction: Thy will know you are my disciples by your love for one another? Even if we considered such a one an enemy, have we forgotten Jesus’ injunction that we love our enemies?

The moment judgment becomes our primary response to another, whether the issue is assisted suicide or the much debated Bill 18 that will soon be debated in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, love is strangled, compassion drains from our soul and we become combatants, more interested in winning the “battle” than in seeing love prevail.

Now this is not easy stuff, most of us have a hard time navigating loving someone who believes something we do not believe. It is far easier to put our energies into trying to “convert” the other to our way of thinking and if that is unsuccessful, to refocus our energies on proving the other wrong. Little wonder the history of the church over the centuries and the many, many local congregations are so soiled by conflict.

I think one of the things that saddens our Lord most as he looks over his Church, over the lives of the people who call themselves Christians (Christ’s ones) is that that primary identifier, the way that all men would know that we are His followers, is so very missing in so many of our interactions with each other and with those we would feel are opposed to our faith and way of life. Let’s take a moment to here the words as Jesus spoke them, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

It is my prayer for Mrs. Griffiths that if she has never experienced the love of God she might encounter His love for her before the doctor in Switzerland gives her the medications that will bring her life to a premature end. It is my prayer for myself that over all the depth of commitment I have to “trust” that I would never forsake loving others as Jesus has loved me. It is my prayer for us all, that as we navigate the messy business of love, that if we are followers of Jesus that people will know that not because I leave my driveway every Sunday morning to go to church, not because I am vocal about my faith, not because I’ve reminded them time and time again; but that people would look at my life and know I follow Jesus because I love others the way Jesus loves me.