Who said this, Jim Kinhan or Desmond Tutu?
“With my life closer to its end than its beginning, I wish to help give people dignity in dying. Just as I have argued firmly for compassion and fairness in life, I believe that terminally ill people should be treated with the same compassion and fairness when it comes to their deaths. Dying people should have the right to choose how and when they leave Mother Earth. I believe that, alongside the wonderful palliative care that exists, their choices should include a dignified assisted death.”
As Concord resident and death with dignity activist Jim Kinhan took his last breath on Thursday (Monitor front page, Oct. 8), the great South African anti-apartheid leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu penned an op-ed (“When my time comes, I want the option of an assisted death.”).
This week, two men who never met, Jim and Desmond, sang their two part harmony. The challenge for us? Can we find the courage to sing the refrain. The time for compassion and choice is now! The time for compassion and choice is now!
ARNIE ARNESEN
Concord