By Pamela Godoy
Nowadays, it is very common to use euphemisms to refer to many controversial realities that are happening. A euphemism is a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. An example of a euphemism is the word euthanasia. Its origin comes from two Greek words (eu=good and thanatos=death) that are translated to mean “good death”. This has derived from referring to euthanasia as “dignified death”. Yet, the question that arises is, is it really a dignified death?
The culture of death, as was appointed by Saint John Paul II in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, describes cultures that malforms consciences and promote false ideas of morality by tolerating or supporting sins at the societal level. It is also known as a throwaway culture since the policies promoted don’t recognize human dignity and devalue human life. In this case, euthanasia is part of the culture of death since it implies that human beings when they reach a certain age are no longer useful to society. For that reason, they should be “discarded”.
Euthanasia is promoted in certain countries because of two main reasons. To begin with, it is a fact that many people don’t want to get married or have kids. That means that the population pyramids are suffering at their basis because there are no longer enough kids that will be future citizens to pay taxes. These taxes support the elderly who have already contributed to society. In line with this, the second reason for promoting euthanasia is that taking care of the old is expensive for a country. They’ve got to pay retirement pensions and an expensive healthcare system for an extended period because now the lifespan has increased due to the advancements in medicine. That’s why governments try to say that this is a dignified death so that people by their own means decide to terminate their lives.
Then the alternative for the wrongly called “dignified death” is to actually speak the truth and make people understand the value of a human being from conception until natural death. Besides these educational efforts so that people don’t fall into the traps of the culture of death; health personnel should be trained in pain management and palliative care. We as humans are much more than just a burden to the system when we reach our last days. We should not be seen as an object to be discarded, but as treasured men and women of infinite value to the eyes of God.
About The Contributor
