To Die Or Not To Die

So God created humankind in his image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

My wife and I have been catching-up with season 2 of The Piano on Channel 4. There was one particular moment that made us both cry (and not because of the piano playing!). This particular participant was playing and singing a Welsh song which had been a particular favourite of her father who had been a singer. Now in his old age he suffered from dementia and so much of his memory had gone. As she sang the song she was accompanied by a Welsh male voice choir and as the song began to flow and swell suddenly her father was seen to come to life and begin singing the song also. It was one of the most affecting moments of the whole show and everyone, including Lang Lang and Mika (the judges), could not help but be moved.

With the leaders of both major political parties in the UK expressing support for assisted dying (helping someone to end their life deliberately) it is likely that legislation to permit assisted dying  in the UK will be considered in the next parliament. Whilst public opinion is apparently increasingly in favour of assisted dying, moments such as that we witnessed on The Piano are a timely reminder that the debate is far from straightforward and needs to be conducted carefully and with deep discussion of what constitutes life, human dignity and human relationship.

It is a common place to hear dementia-sufferers spoken of as “the person he was has gone”. It is as if the physically present body was just that, a mere bag of salt and water with a few fats and proteins thrown in that functions mindlessly. But that moment in that episode of The Piano reminds us that this is not true. The person remains, however deeply hidden, however different, not only within themselves, but in the loving relationship of a daughter singing her father’s favourite song in a railway station; in the loving relationship of a devoted wife who continues to care for a husband who can do little to help himself; in the loving relationships of friends who put themselves out to do something to declare the worth of a friend they have known and continue to know even in the greatly changed circumstance of the present.

A utilitarian approach to life, to human dignity, may lead to the conclusion that it is better to end life than to endure and this may, indeed, win the day in the upcoming debates, but I feel that it will lose much of what is truly dignified about human life. The Bible begins with the great chapters on Creation, and at the heart of it is the truth that God made humankind in His image. Our dignity as human beings lies not in our utility, nor in our ability to remember who we are, but in the truth that we are held in His never wavering regard. We may forget, but He never forgets and never loses sight of the image that He has created.