FEAR IS NOT LOVE

Anyone who has been a regular reader of my blog will know that I fully support the idea of euthanasia for people.  Today I was listening to Radio Five Live with Victoria Derbyshire, the subject of which was euthanasia.  They have this gentleman named Tony communicating via an electronic pad who wants help to end his truly terrible life, which is of course illegal.  Suffering is truly terrible.  Here suffering from ‘Locked In Syndrome’ since having a stroke five years ago.  He is totally conscious but incapable of controlling any part of his body but his eyes.

They had a woman named Rachel who we were told was a disability rights campaigner and a wheelchair user herself.  She was totally against the idea that the law ought to be changed because she is one of these people who believes that if the law was changed that the infirm disabled and sick would all get put sleep left right and centre.  What angered me the most about her was that she dared to judge the family of a 23-year-old young man who had his neck broken.  This young man was paralysed from the neck down with no chance of recovery.  On his say-so his family took him to DIGNITAS in Switzerland, where his life was ended.  Although this woman did not come right out and say that his family did him wrong she said that he had been surrounded by people who supported his decision whereas he should have had people who did not support his decision around him as well! How dare she?! What right has see got to second-guess this young man?  What right does she have to judge his family? Even more to the point how dare she suggest that he should stay alive just to satisfy her ideals?

I sent a text in to the program saying how heartbroken I was at this man’s predicament and how I believe the opposite to this woman named Rachel explaining that I suffered 24 this/7 pain and I therefore have reason to think upon the subject of euthanasia.  As a result of this I ended up speaking on the show.

I do wish that I had not.  I was much more nervous than  I thought I would be and I spoke rapidly and tried to get too much in and I feel fairly certain that I came across as a nutter and not in the cogent way that I intended.

My heart goes out to Tony and to his wife Jane and to his two daughters.  I can only hope that they are all soon put out of their abject misery.

In our obsessive fear of death because other human beings so much unnecessary suffering.  There are worse things than death.  We cannot avoid death we are all going to die.  Death is not something that happens to other people.  It happens to all of us and it will happen to you who are reading this.

If death is not the end of our consciousness then we have nothing to fear.  If death is the end of our consciousness then we have nothing to fear.  In the first instance we will not have been annihilated and in the second instance we will not exist and so will be unable to feel anything.  It is a win-win situation.

Except of course for the fact that religionists have made death of very fearful thing that everybody with their stories of hell and damnation  etc

The pool that I use for swimming has closed until January 10th in order to refurbish the boilers. I had intended to not swim for six weeks because my local Pool is the one that I left because of bullying. The people at the other pool that I attend had told me that there were quite a few changes and that I might not find my local pool that bad. I have to say that I was afraid to go though.

This morning the urge to swim came upon me quite strongly and I thought it is now or never I have to face this situation head-on.  I went to my local pool and I had a good swim and unlike all the other times I had attended this time the guard was really pleasant and I was helped into and out of the pool.  I had thought that I would get by with just the occasional dog walk but the depth of cold and ice and snow has shown me that this is far too dangerous for me so swimming is the only way that I can keep my mobility going.  If I do not my pain will get worse and my abilities will lessen.

The puppies are 16 days old and are doing incredibly well.  Whitney is definitely pregnant and is behaving so.

I went for almost 2 years without any puppies and now I will have had three litters in a 12 month period! This has all worked out very well as I have no shows that I need to attend for several months now.

The weather here as I’m sure you all know is very cold and snowy and icy.  For some reason the UK is not equipped to handle this and thousands of schools have shut roads have shut transporters come to a halt, airports have closed and the British people are moaning about the weather.  Surprise, surprise!

John and I really enjoyed our trip to Amsterdam.  We have both come to the conclusion that short trips would suit us much better.  I certainly did not come back absolutely exhausted and in much pain.  It was much less stressful for the pair of us.  There are plenty of places to visit that are within a for a five-day visit.  I have discovered that we can do Barcelona easily by getting a train, the Eurostar, non-stop to Avignon.  From there it is only a 250 mile drive to Barcelona.  The train comes back the following Saturday having travelled out on the Saturday.  So we can be away for just a week.  I think it will be ideal.  Plus it will be very cheap because wheelchair users and their carers travel very cheaply on the Eurostar.