I have seen all of my grandparents die. Two males of stroke, quick same day stuff. And the females go down a slow slow path of degeneration in nursing homes with dementia and Alzheimer's, also multiple heart attacks and diabetes and other health complications.
In the west there seems to be an attitude of alive as long as possible no matter the suffering or quality of life is the only moral option. And seeing people's personality slowly die over the course of years until they are literally nothing more than a husk that is only alive because the body continues it's basic lizard brain need to breath until the very very end is not humane.
Perhaps I am cold hearted, but I would look at the state my grandmothers lived for at least the last year of their lives and wonder how a civilized society could operate in such a way. Especially when the principle of decreasing suffering is so strong in the world of hunting and farming. If a living thing is going to die, (and we all are) then do it as quickly and painlessly as possible. Pain can be avoided, death cannot.
Perhaps I will understand if it happens to my parents, and not my grandparents, but I get the impression it is just because our society has grown weak. So many are afraid to say the hard truths, and do the difficult things even though we know they would make the world better. Anyway, I lost much respect for our "civilized society" in those moments.
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