He and his wife were of advanced age, in frail health, and some praised their final act as "courageous" and "rational".
"Within a couple of minutes they were asleep, and died within 10 minutes. They wanted to be next to each other when they died." The son of the couple added, "It is a very civilized way to end your life, and I don't understand why the legal position in this country doesn't allow it."
Sir Downes and his wife had to fly to Switzerland because the "procedure" is currently illegal in the UK, where suicide is illegal. Some commentators pointed out that it is perfectly legal to put an animal "out of its misery", so why not family or loved ones?
It's quite typical to advance the notion that we must do away with needless suffering. Indeed, the desire to alleviate or end human suffering is laudable, and the essence of compassion. What our society has forgotten, however, is that suffering used to be considered a part of life. Our insistence upon carefree, painless life and comfort have robbed us of a certain richness of experience and gratitude that our forbears enjoyed. It has also promoted a culture of indulgence, one which seeks a "quick fix" to all of our problems. Pain and suffering, and even aging and death, are seen as problems that science must overcome, rather than experiences which would build character and perseverence.
Perhaps this is why our ancestors, in their shorter, more painful lives filled with hardship and suffering, showed much more moral rectitude, strength of character and resilience than we do in our "feel good" culture of self-indulgence. They overcame great obstacles, braving the wild and enduring illness and suffering in an age before modern painkillers, antibiotics, etc., yet achieved much more in their short lives than many of us do in our 75 or 80 years, gaining wisdom and virtue along the way.
The increase in drug addiction, particularly the sort of painkillers of the sort that Michael Jackson was taking, is symptomatic of the "culture of convenience" of our age. Sir Edward Downes and his wife, too, apparently thought that pain and suffering are somehow abberant in a life which "ought to" consist of nothing but pleasure, comfort and convenience.
We can expect many more suicides to come, as well as people attempting to escape the sufferings caused by the coming depression through alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. They will be the casualties in our "me- centered" culture.
For those of you who find this tragic end beautiful, there is nothing "dignified" or "brave" about running away from life when it becomes hard. Our history books are filled with stores of heroes who suffered torture, sickness and imprisonment, yet refused to end their lives, men like Martin Luther, Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela. If every instance of suffering becomes a mandate for suicide, then we are negating life itself.
Furthermore, in allowing "assisted suicide" of those who clearly want it, there is a danger of the law being misused against those who cannot clearly give informed consent- the mentally ill, severely disabled, handicapped, severely depressed. To be sure, the law cannot prevent suicide, of course, but any thinking person can see how such a law can be abused. What's to prevent a husband from killing his terminally ill or severely disabled wife and then later saying that she "wanted" to die?
William Faulkner said, "Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain". Why can't we choose life as it is, with all of its love, pain, suffering and joy?
