The "Death with Dignity" movement has been put back in the national spotlight thanks to her unique situation. I understand why there is debate around what some call "assisted suicide". Having worked for hospice, I saw the suffering people went through in the dying process. In most cases the symptoms were manageable with medication and alternative therapies. While it is painful to become "child-like" in needing assistance with the smallest of things, I do think that death is (ideally) a natural and strangely beautiful process.
However, not all worlds are perfect and not all people live full lives. Brittany Maynard's seizures and headaches would have gotten worse, and she would have suffered much more before her death. She chose to die in peace, surrounded by the people she loved. I think that is what all human beings want, in the end.
What was so refreshing about her story is how openly she talked about her illness and her feelings about her own death. Our society treats death as an enemy. We want the latest plastic surgery, makeup to make us look younger, medicine to make our hair grow back.
November 1st was the Day of the Dead. This time last year, I was in the cemetery in Suchitoto, El Salvador. People visit the graves of their loved ones. They bring fake flowers, re-paint the tomb stones (always brightly colored), and remember their family members who have gone before them. The cemetery is full, a sea of people. There is food and laughter, and a mariachi band plays.
We can learn something from this tradition. Giving life to death - painting the gray tombstone a colorful green. Talking openly about how death affects us, and acknowledging that we are, in fact, fully alive.
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