Watching the End.

I’ve made posts on this blog about my ‘inner conviction’ that the consciousness is immortal and occupies one body after another. I’ve tended to belittle death as something only of great consequence to those left behind. Well, tonight I watched the second half of a documentary made by Terry Pratchett. For those who don’t know, he has Alzheimer’s and is a confirmed proponent of assisted suicide.

He followed two men through the procedure of using the services of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. The programme followed one of them right up to the point of drinking the ‘medication’ and falling asleep. Pratchett was almost in tears and I could understand why. It was heavy stuff.

Here’s a 72-year-old man sitting on a sofa with his wife. He has a warm body imbued with the life force. We’ve just seen him calmly sign the consent form, and he remains calm when the ‘escort’ asks him to confirm that he definitely wants to go through with this. ‘You will fall asleep and then you will die,’ she says. He maintains his dignity, and he answers her with a polite smile. Yes, he’s quite sure he wants to go through with it – quite sure. The escort hands him a glass of colourless liquid and he drinks it with no hesitation while his wife strokes the fingers of his free hand. He coughs once and falls asleep on the shoulder of the escort.

We know, and so does his wife of forty years, that in a matter of minutes he won’t be a warm body imbued with the life force any longer; he’ll be just be a heap of cold, lifeless flesh. The body will begin to decompose and the identity will be gone. No more ‘good mornings,’ no more talking, no more laughing, no more arguing, no more going on holiday, no more listening to music. The list goes on and on. The final goodbye. End.

I tell you, my inner conviction is undiminished, but it certainly took a bloody shaking!