 Re: Giving People Permission to Die
Erin --
Some synchronicity here: last night I posted a piece about having to put down our cat. Gayle (my wife, to those who don't know me) had to work through the decision to do this ("our" cat, Tink, was really her cat, honestly), and she came to the conclusion that having to resort to medical intervention to keep Tink alive would be traumatizing to Tink in the long-term, ultimately.
I do find myself still examining the quandary about the "relative value" of a pet's life to a person's life. The love Tink exhibited to Gayle was real and there is probably no way to put a price on it. (Unless, of course, you ask an insurance agent ...)
My bottom line here is that I had a sense from Tink that she somehow understood what was happening to her, and accepted it.
This is a hard kind of love, but I feel it was love on Gayle's part to make the tough decision that was right for Tink.
|