Assisted suicide, at its core, is an act of abandonment. A proper respect for human dignity demands that we provide the means to assist one to live, not to die. Instead, assisted suicide forces the citizens of Hawaii to choose between caring and killing. While a person’s life need not be unnaturally prolonged by any means possible, a person should never be abandoned to death and intentionally killed.
We are each a part of another’s story, and the last chapter is often the most rewarding. But assisted suicide robs us of the very heart of ‘Ohana. Instead of debating the right moment to die, we should be more mindful of ways to help ailing loved ones and the terminally ill make every moment matter.