"Don't be in such a hurry"

Lawrence Henry is a very fine writer, and he's at his best when he handles matters that are deeply personal for him. Today he discusses the theme of "death with dignity," and he wants to know why there sometimes seems to be such a rush. (Wesley Smith would tell him that it's because HMO's likes to shave expenses, and Smith has a point.) Henry concludes:

Three things I remember from when my friends came to visit me in the hospital. One thing they all said later: "I thought you were going to die." To which I used to say, "If I ever get out of here, I'm going to get a motorcycle."

And the other was waking up at various times in my hospital bed, seeing my mother, always faithfully there, no matter what.

It is too damned easy to be cavalier and heroic about "dying with dignity" when somebody else is doing the dying.