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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1996)
Death-with-d i gn ity ruling frees individual liberties ■ OUR OP1NIOM: An people should be able to choose how and when they che Civil libertarians Untied major victorias last week The «th U S. Circuit Court of Appeal* overturned a Washington state law that banned doctor-assisted sui cide, and ihe infamous Dr Jack Kevorkian was found no!-guilty of violating Michigan's law against the same thing. Finally, some common sense in the judicial system Although America prides itself on individual freedom and the right to pursue hap piness. it frenueiitly erects unnecessary harriers to indi vidual choice. The notion that suicide ui any form is illegal is ridiculous If the person attempting suicide is successful, whom does the law punish? If the person fails his or her shot at end ing it all, being fined or imprisoned hardly seem* a positive way to beat the blues. The terminally ill. or any one else for that matter, should be allowed to deter mine how and when to die. Suit ide affect* only the pot son committing il, and. as such, should not and cannot be controlled by a governing body, (>riainly. we, a* a cul ture. believe in the sanctity of life. And yes. the family and friend* who are left behind by the self-killing [►arson suffer the pain of that loss. But in the end. the law should not prevent any person from determining the courso of his or her physical existence Throughout the history of this country, we seem to have Increasingly plat ed the government in a parental role We want our (mistical leaders to also be our moral teai her*, guidance coun selors and babysitters We dump our problems and our accountability on the steps of the Capitol and ask for solutions And then we complain about big government Hinmrn But we are the leaders We dec ide how we want to live our lives, and now we can decide how want to end them Determining the qual ity of life is an individual choice and cannot be estab lished by any group. One person may rather suffer than face tne unknown, while other* may want to "go gentle into that good night." Some opponents of doe tor assisted suicide argue that killing oneself is anti thetical to religious teach ings. and is. therefore, immoral However, not everyone has the same reli gious beliefs. Some doctors oppose assisted suic ide because it violates their oath to pre serve life at any exist Per hap# it'a time to re-examine the Hippocratic. oath It's more logical that doctors should be morally bound to prevent or reduce suffering at any cost Ending the life of a terminally ill patient who is in chronic pain and no longer wants to live is a morally correct act. In either c ase, laws agatusl suicide put the needs of the survivors and soc iety’s conscience ahead of the needs of the individ ual. Not only are these laws unenforceable, but they are also unconstitutional The courts made the right dec i sion last week. Even in death, we should he the cap tains of our own ships Emerald | ———Pami11 ' *** fiarifc «M% Hamftii ¥-%##* n« mmt aaf ■ ■— **.zjz,Tczjz■ Au»«Mlta MB K*al«tUMDr«UMW. UMpMMMnm |«|IM»H ■» m—» * M» t*»aw im« aw mwtf immi m*—'« — »««. ■ hMMI '«IWHU|HM»<l|»S M- —...... --■-f-— ^ r kWMl tMM MMteW r I AM ASK»**C T«t . actvwqcacs «o pnovioc TWRff Mourn Of EDUCAJK5WAL ..AREN'T Wf QOtNC THM Aiwaoy? t * KOOJ« 1 ‘" ! ! ' ’ I j BOB GfiOUCH U TAX ^ ■ -V j ! Confrontation will save environment Whai doe* il mean to live with wild things, in know they ar* out there? “There are some who can live with out wild thing*, and some who can not * Atdo taopold wrote that “At night the breeca that whispers over us has also. Just bafant. whispered over the backs of lug eyed deer, touc hed elk in coats the color of c opper pennies, ruffled the feather* of hawk and owl. and whuffed the fur of bobcat and cougar and the wild wolverine “ I wrote that. “When I bear an elk bugle, there comet a pri mordial tingle along my spina, and my attention is riveted to that ancient compelling call Feu that instant It is very dear to me what is truly important Somehow, there is an announce ment that titer* is wholeness and wildness left and — few that instant and in that place — all seem* right with the world ' Forest Service Chief fuck Ward Thomas wrote that Why support law* that protec t the environ | mam? Baatuae we need to know that wildness it out there We want to know that wild crea tures thrive in wiki place* U.S Department of lustier* attorney Gerald Torres sped* Saturday at the University** annu al Flnvironmental taw Conferwnc * l(« said ibis ulna in wildness >» what set* America apart from other countries ~Civibration,' he said, "is an urban idea — but one that entails an idea of pro tes ting Wild spac es,* Pat Pwentaau know* about protecting wild spaces, he represented the U.S Fish a Wildlife Servic e al the God Squid hearings and now leac he* at Vermont Uw School Hi* conference workshop outlined a response to Congress' "Contract With America * He said we must first at all confront the lie Environmental law is not running roughshod over ih» little guy Wo must confront the rhetoric and photo ops used by politicians whose goal is the gutting of environmental laws Parentnau said we must also confront the cart* Though the Northwest has not been trans formed into the Appalachia predicted by the timber industry, many environmentalists prefer to shut their eyes to areas where habitat protec tion ha* caused economic hardship "Flnvironmentalists who ignore the cost of protection." Parenteau said, “completely miss the opportunity to look at the coats of not pro tecting the environment." We must also confront the change Mary Wood. Professor of Uw al the University, spoke of "Environmentalism For A New Mil ten nium " She points out that corporate representa tives function now as de facto congressional »<*H. influenc ing members of Congress and even drafting legislation (such as tha Salvage Rider) But in confronting the realities of environ mental issues today, we must also confront the divisions Poll results indicating that 70 percent of Americans support environmental protection i* what stalled the "Contract with America"; what may stall the environmental movement, however, is the divisiveness, the blaming and bad-mouthing and looking for the enemy. If* the corporation*; if* big busine**; if* corporate greed and plunder; it'* politician* who gut environmental law*; if* agencies that allow loggers to rape and scab our forests. If* thi* or that enemy If* my ancient old growth preserve and your fed). This land is your land, this land is my land: we're all stuck nere nil w« die When we feel the urge to heap public acorn upon the corporation*, we muit remember that many of tbone who support environmental pro tection week for and own share* in corporations. When we verbally abuse the agendas that man age our public land* we must remember that people who support environmental protection wont for those agencies Ten years ago Jack Ward Thomas spoke of tlu»*» employees, and cautioned that the public needed to take an active role in conserving those wild place* "They are good people." he said "But they can accomplish only what the political and financial situation of the moment allows They can't do the job with inadequate and dm lining resources and a silent public that stands back and quietly watches the struggle “ The public is no longer quietly watching, but some are too loud. Our nastiness toward perceived enemies does nothing to enhance the image of the environ mental movement. Infighting among the envi ronmental community (more than a little of which was evident during the conference) does nothing to attract marginal supporter*. We talk positive activism, yet we don't hesi tate to publicly shred ihe people who could be — should be — part of the broad-hased support for environmental protection The next time you're tempted to say "corporate greed." remem her what Parantmtu said .Saturday; If all corporation* are bad. then we're doomed " And remember that without corpora Hon* we would have no public TV. no Sierra Club, no Nature Conservancy — and without them we'd have far fewer wild c reatures out there in wild place*. kelty Andenson is a senior motoring in journal ism and is a columnist for the Emerald. Email ooonettorvgon.uoregon.edu ■
