Assisted suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal seeking to overturn his conviction for the videotaped murder of a terminally ill Michigan man, October 7, 2002. Kevorkian, shown in court March 26, 1999, had appealed on the grounds that the guilty verdict must be set aside because the right to be free from 'unbearable and irremediable pain and suffering is deeply rooted' in U.S. history and the Constitution. Photo by Pool/Reuters REUTERS/Pool

Dr. Kevorkian, a man for all seasons

Quietly, one man stands up against the most feared natural event on the planet, death.  

What is death?  It is little more than walking through a door; a door that not one single human being can avoid or cheat.  Death is the final event for every human being on this planet regardless of social status, race or religion.  Death is the great leveler of humanity.

Death is the end of our physical existence on this planet, in this reality, but the vast majority of human beings believe that within each human being is an immortal soul that lives beyond the death of the physical body.  The vast majority of human beings believe that at the end of life there is an accounting which takes place regarding what one did or did not do while on this planet and many believe that there is a judgment of some kind related to that accounting: either condemnation to Hell or condemnation to return to this earth or the reward of Heaven.

Dr. Kevorkian understands that we are all programmed to die.  He rejects the religious notion that only God should be allowed to determine when one's life is to be terminated.  He rejects the suspect notion of the religious bureaucracies that suicide is an evil that will be punished by God.  He understands that religious bureaucracies have a lot to lose if human beings are not conditioned to fear death.  The fear of death is the foundation of all religion.  It is this fear that empowers religious bureaucracies to exercise control over the human population.

Without the fear of death, the religious bureaucracies would have no hold on the people.  They would not be able to extract billions of dollars in contributions and their bureaucracies would collapse.

If a gospel of truly good news was taught, one that related death to nothing more than exiting one movie theatre and the entering of another, then there would come a great change over human society.  People would understand the true transient nature of all things and would accept the end of life as a blessing and an escape from the boredom that would oppress those anyone who were condemned to being forever entrapped in the same physical form.  

The truth is that everything that comes into physical existence immediately begins to disintegrate.  Not a single physical thing in the universe is permanent.  

Dr. Kevorkian is a man who believes that human beings should be allowed the dignity that comes with death.  The dignity of being allowed to exit this reality and thereby release friends and family from the pain and suffering of watching someone they love and care about live every single moment in pain; pain that makes them an unwilling burden on society.  

There is nothing stopping any human being from willing themselves to death or from taking his or her own life.  The narrow issue here is whether those who desperately wish to die but who cannot bring themselves to terminate their lives should be allowed to ask for help in that transition.  The issue is whether a human being should have control of his or her destiny regardless of the desires of friends and family.

little George Bush is determined to begin a war in the Middle East, a war that will destroy untold numbers of lives.  little George has killed over a 100,000 Afghanis without remorse.  He has killed soldiers and civilians, men, women and children.  And as governor of Texas he did not stop the execution of one single human being.

Yet Dr. Kevorkian, out of great compassion for the hopelessly sick and terminally ill, someone who helped these human beings to exit this reality, has been condemned to live in prison for his acts of caring.

The great fear of Dr. Kevorkian comes from all political and religious institutions and bureaucracies.  The great fear is that human beings will lose their fear of death.  If there is no fear of death, then control of human societies becomes very difficult.  Without the fear of death, religious organizations must focus on helping people live a good life based on some criteria other than going to Hell or being forced into rebirth.  When there is no fear of death, human beings are capable of anything.

The great fear of Dr. Kevorkian comes from the religious and political institutions who do not want the people to awaken to the reality that the fear of death is a tool of control.  

The great fear of Dr. Kevorkian by the religious bureaucracies is the possibility that people will come to view God as a loving God who welcomes those who could not bear the pain of life along with the alleged saints who were born with a strong will and blessed with good health.  The great fear is that Dr. Kevorkian would spread among the human population the reality that God is love and that exiting the pain of this reality will not result in greater pain in the reality of the immortal spirit.

For all those who Dr. Kevorkian has released from the pain of life, I admire him.  It is not my destiny in this life to relegate death to its proper perspective in the scheme of the physical universe which is in a constantly state of change.  All I can do is support Dr. Kevorkian for what I consider acts of great compassion toward the terminally ill.

The time is soon coming when men like little George and Ariel Sharon will be condemned for their murderous acts and men like Dr. Kevorkian will be acknowledged and dmired for their compassion.  The time is coming when those who kill innocent unsuspecting citizens are remembered for their inability to solve social problems without demonizing a particular race, religion or nation and then murdering their individual members.

John WorldPeace
October 7,  2002

How can we manifest peace on earth if we do not include everyone (all races, all nations, all religions, both sexes) in our vision of Peace?

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