34AEJ7D@CMUVM.BITNET (Bill Gorman) (04/19/91)
Index Number: 15033 Ann P. Excuse me for butting into this thread on euthanasia. I agree with you *OPPOSITION* to *forced* euthanasia of the old, disABLED or unwanted, but I don't think the religious arguement is the major one against such things. Christianity is not the force in the world it may once have been. However, there is a saying (forgot the source) that really sums it up, although it refers, at least in the version I heard, more to the events of Nazi Germany. It goes like this: "First they came for the trade unionists... and I did not speak; then they came for the Bolsheviks... and I did not speak; then they came for the Catholics... and I did not speak; then they came for the Poles... and I did not speak; then they came for the Jews... and I did not speak; then they came for the old... and I did not speak; then they came for me... and there was noone left to speak." To me, this says simply that we are obliged to defend the rights of others out of, if nothing else, purely selfish motives of self preservation. If we fail to do this, there will surely be nobody to protect *OUR* rights. And yes, I, too, find genetic engineering - and particularly the offshoot of it that deals with cloning - fascinating, worth discussing, and quite possibly of great future benefit to the disABLED. 73, W. K. (Bill) Gorman