Chilling! Unsettling! Unthinkable! Yet, all too real!
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book from the shelves of Christian fiction at our local library. I chose it for a two reasons: Dr. James Dobson’s name was prominently displayed as the co-author — and though I knew him to be a prolific writer of more than 50 titles on family life issues, I was unaware of his having delved into writing fiction; and, the title caught my eye – Fatherless. During my years of Seminary study, in the mid-1990’s, I had done a research paper on the Men’s Movement — which included a cursory exploration of the impact and effect of fatherlessness on family life and the society of the day.
So, without much thought, I added it to the pile of books I balanced in my arms, with the expectation it would provide some relaxing summer reading, and checked it out.
Later that evening, as my husband was wandering aimlessly around, looking for something to read, I offered Dobson’s book to him. Within the first few pages, he looked up and asked, “Do you know what this is about?” I had to plead innocence because I had only given a cursory glance at the blurb on the back of the book and it didn’t reference any specifics as to the topic.
I was incredulous when he said, “It’s about MAiD!”
Sure enough!
Published in 2013, the authors, Dobson & co-author, Kurt Bruner, set the book 30 years in the future. Fast forwarding to the 2040’s, the protagonist is a freshman US Congressman, Kevin Tolbert, who still believes in the Christian God, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family. His nemesis is a 30 something, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Julia Davidson. With a younger journalist nipping at her heels, wanting to garner her own glory, and threatening to take over Julia’s role as the go-to media columnist who reflects the avant garde values of the culture, Julia needs the next stellar topic to keep her on top.
Decrying the old fashioned views represented by the religious conservatives who embrace being married, having children, and eschew participating in ‘transitioning’ — voluntarily accepting euthanasia to protect and pass on economic assets to the next generation, Julia stumbles on a story that may be her next ‘big’ one, and may nip in the bud Tolbert’s ‘Bright Spot’ agenda which would introduce tax measures to recoup the losses and put the Party back on top of the polls.
The last of the baby boomers is aging out, the economy is in the tank, and, with the drastic decline in the birth rate, the ‘replacement population’ of workers is lacking, which means there is an onerous burden on existing taxpayers to continue to fund services to the elderly and ill. Given these circumstances, those who fall into certain categories — the elderly whose health is beginning to decline, and those with disabling diseases who are termed “debits” — are being encouraged to be ‘heroic volunteers’ to accept transitioning to protect and pass on their wealth for the next generation.
Many long-term care facilities have been turned into comfortable, welcoming ‘transition sites’ to accommodate the fact they are no longer needed to house the elderly or disabled. And, it’s a win-win-win situation, for the heirs who are left the inheritances, the facilities who thrive monetarily from this business, and even the government who benefit when a portion of the estate comes into their coffers with every person who willingly volunteers to die.
This had to be one of the hardest ‘reads’ I have had occasion to engage in, of late. In the back of my mind was the constant, unsettling realization that this is where MAiD could go! It reverberated in my mind and heart as a very real possibility.
What would have been unthinkable, highly unlikely, and purely fictional, only a few short years ago, has suddenly become a scenario that is all too plausible and real, especially for us here in Canada with the introduction of MAiD.
With the tip of the iceberg of a shifting population base that is not replacing the current level of tax paying workers, will ‘transitioning,’ nobly and heroically, become part of the future for ourselves, as the razor edge of the baby boomer population?
Chilling! Unsettling! Unthinkable! — Or, maybe not.
Check out the book! It won’t be a relaxing summer read, but it is well worth taking the fictional journey into this suddenly emerging social maze.
A real eye-opener on what might be facing us in the not too distant future as Canada embraces MAiD and probably moves beyond the current ‘restrictions’ in place today.
Ending Our Life Well 