Regarding this week’s news about support for end-of-life guidelines:
Having seen my mother languish for years before she passed away at 94 and my grandmother pleading with her eyes for us to get her off the machines and let her die, it is good to see that hospitals and clergy will be working together for demystifying end-of-life planning. A poem I wrote some years ago expresses my concern:
Time to Die –
I want to die with dignity,
Not how the system plans for me.
Not in a hospital bed
With many tubes about my headMy body undergoing tests
When all I really need is rest.
For I'll know when and I'll know why
The time has come for me to die.
Janet Fisher-Hoult, Ed.D., Professor Emerita, CSULA, may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
