Existing in pain
delicious freedom of death
withheld by the courts
Today’s Haiku was inspired by lines from Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road.” I do suffer from chronic pain and some days it is a tough battle. But, there are those who are worse off than myself and I understand that some might prefer to have an honorable, legally acceptable, way to stop their suffering. This has been on my mind as my old dog is nearing the end of his life and it is perfectly acceptable to ease his suffering before his pain becomes unbearable and his quality of life lessens to a very low degree.
Seeing him suffer and preparing to help I makes me ask the following:
Why do we not give humans the same consideration and dignity?
Thanks for this tought-provoking post and for loving your dog as you do, William.
It is a tough decision. We went to the vet again yesterday. He is still enjoying life, albeit on pain killers, and we are happy he is still here.