I think my generation should address the issues around the right to die. I can't claim to have the intelligence to think through the myriad difficulties of having such a right and of course I do appreciate that conceding to the idea of being allowed to end a life is problematic. But I can say this: for some, quality of life is so meagre that not having such a right is itself a form of cruelty.

For example: to prolong living at all costs especially in old age when, say, a person has lost faculties mental and physical, who needs constant and expensive nursing care, when all sense of meaningfulness as would be commonly understood has gone, that someone should be kept alive in these circumstances against their will is to be subjecting suffering that need not be.

There was a time when little could be done to keep people alive. A serious illness meant death. Certainly many went prematurely with much unfulfilled potential. But the presumption, with advances in treating diseases, that everyone wants as much life as possible at all costs is a form of stupidity. What is wanted is quality before quantity. Although the looming problem a generation from now when the cost of caring for the elderly will be huge is a further compelling factor, I think the humanitarian imperative out of compassion and respect for quality of life is a sufficient argument. There will be a demand for finding humane and sensible ways of easing people out at the far end. I suspect once the entrenched norms have subsided and fear of the euthanasia society gotten over, when the possible misuses have been addressed, it will not be so hard to accept a culture comfortable with the right to die.

Part of the problem historically has been the taboo around death. People prefer not to talk about it. Given it is one of the few abiding absolutes, that we will all be dead soon enough, this doesn't seem right. I think a full recognition that life does and will end, is part of a broader appreciation of it while it lasts. But currently people tend to live like they will never die and so when it comes it is such devastation. There is no psychological preparation for ending lives. It is another example of an emotional deficit characterised by denial. Embracing that stark reality would be beneficial in itself as part of mental health but also necessary in bringing about good procedures around the right to die.

Go out when the time is right, that's the thing, when you still have your dignity and reasonable health. Have a party and celebrate life and its uniqueness with the people you have known around you and then just go! You have to go sometime so do it in an enlightened and positive way rather than the current mode of holding on for grim death till the last breathe is snatched away at which point all those around you are utterly distraught and grief-stricken with no sense of celebration of a life lived well, of what you were about, only despair, gloom and a deep sense of loss reflected in the often false reverence of the ritualistic funeral, a completely unsatisfactory way of seeing a person off. Surely we can do better.