The more people are aware of their choices around death and dying, and talk about this with their medical providers and friends and family, the more support we will have from others and our societal institutions.
When I post with my FB Friends, it is my intent and request that you share this with your FB Friends. I want these posts to go viral because my work today is for All of Us. I believe that having support for how and when we die is a basic human right. It’s no different than how we’ve worked hard for civil rights, women’s rights, voting rights. This are Human Rights and they apply to everyone. We all know we have to be vigilant with these rights so we protect them and keep them.
The more people are aware of their choices around death and dying, and talk about this with their medical providers and friends and family, the more support we will have from others and our societal institutions. For example, in order for someone to have a good death by Voluntary Stopping Eating & Drinking (VSED), like my husband had, we need to have knowledgeable doctors who will support someone through the VSED process. This is critical! If this doesn’t occur, a person can suffer needlessly as their body breaks down in the normal dying process.
Over and over again, we have been part of and witnessed social change. Often there are slow incremental changes, and it may not even look like anything is happening. It’s like water turning to ice. It get colder and colder and colder, and there is no perceptible difference, and then all of the sudden the water becomes ice and we see the change.
Let my FB messages on the Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking FB Page, and and my website www.PhyllisShacter.com go viral. Send these messages to people all over the world. Information empowers us to make good decisions. I’m hoping people will learn about their choices, and then over time be able to face their death with more equanimity. Before my husband died, I was terrified of death. It was the fear that was underneath all of my fears, but I didn’t know this. Once his death was right in front of me, I had to look at it. He prepared consciously for his death. He was even curious about it. He had a good quality of death. His biggest legacy to me is helping me lose my fear of death. As a result, everyday is brighter.
Yes, send the FB posts and the link to my website to all your Friends. Spark new conversation. Trust me, it’s liberating to talk about our end of life choices.