Sept. 2: Dignified death – and more letters to the editorPeter Power/The Globe and Mail
Sticking it out
A special thanks for Konrad Yakabuski's column on assisted suicide (Assisted Suicide Isn't The Only Dignified Way To Go – Sept. 1).
As a palliative care physician, it was my rich privilege to witness the last days of living of many courageous individuals coping with the end stages of disease. From my perspective, their "sticking it out" to the end was never undignified, but often filled with meaning. This analysis is a welcome counter to much that has recently appeared in the media about end-of-life issues.
Wesley Boston, Kingston
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Since we're citing fiction, why stop at To Kill a Mockingbird's Mrs. Dubose (who was at the very least eccentric for deciding to go cold turkey on painkillers just when she was dying of cancer)? Why not laud the death of Little Nell in Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop, of which Oscar Wilde is reported to have said, "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing."
In real life, I think of my brother-in-law, who, after months of truly terrible agony, said to my sister, "I'm ready to go now." But of course he couldn't just go, and it was days before metastatic bone cancer stopped the beat of his still-strong heart. Or my grandmother, incapacitated by a stroke, whose prayer for nearly a year before her death from pneumonia was, "I just want to go to sleep."
Margaret Kerr, Toronto
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Flight or fight?
As a spokeswoman for a major airline, I dealt with too many Knee Defender issues when that troublesome piece of plastic made its debut some years ago (A Sense Of Entitlement Is In The Air And Passengers Are Getting Ugly – Aug. 30).
When I hear about alleged adults fighting with water cups and worse over a few centimetres of space, I realize I was right when I told one of my executives that the device would cause nothing but problems unless all airlines banned it. He told me that an airline could prohibit all sorts of things, serve Dom Perignon in coach, sell tickets for less than $100 and employ only angelic gate agents and flight attendants, yet "some people would still complain and act like jerks."
I particularly remember his last words of counsel: "The world is becoming an increasingly hellish place to live. For those who cannot tolerate the fire and brimstone of life in a mature fashion, an enclosed metal tube streaking across the sky is the worst sort of hell, provoking the most vile behaviour."
Especially enclosed metal tubes containing little plastic seat recline prevention devices.
Mary Stanik, Vasa Grande, Ariz.
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Flying has become an ordeal. Packing more and more passengers into a flying tin can and the dishonesty of hidden costs add up to a miserable passenger. Before long, they'll be anesthetizing us so they can stack us like uncomplaining logs and get more of us in.
Claudette Claereboudt, Regina
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Finnish that homework
We often fail to note the role Finland's adult education system plays in the success of Finnish children (The Finnish Miracle – Focus, Aug. 30).
Parents are the child's first and ongoing teachers. Adult education in Finland is a co-ordinated system from training to liberal arts and is considered as important as the education of children themselves. Here, it's unco-ordinated, focused on work training and secondary in importance.
In Finland, adult education is about citizenship, as is children's education. Open university and worker's education ensure that a general education is accessible for all adults throughout life. Finnish adults can learn about history, current developments and other topics in affordable, open-admission, community-based higher education programs.
As adults learn, they help children. By focusing solely on children's education, we overlook the seeds for the Finnish miracle.
Wendy Terry, president, the Workers' Educational Association, Toronto
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Some of the jokes
Re B'nai Brith CEO To Nominate Harper For Nobel Peace Prize (Aug. 30):
Why stop at the Nobel? Let's nominate Stephen Harper for a Polaris for his music covers; an Emmy for his online TV show and a Governor-General's award for his hockey book. Make him a trophy – a silver glazed donut on a plinth. It would cost us less than $30.
Clive Robertson, associate professor, art history, Queen's University, Kingston
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I was interested to learn that the CEO is eligible to nominate the PM as a professor at Canada Christian College. As a retired professor previously unaware of this credential, I shall hasten to nominate my miniature schnauzer, Guinness.
Like our PM, Guinness "has consistently spoken out with resolve regarding the safety of people under threat." I refer to his shrill, predictable barking to defend the Bowd family's territory from the daily invasion of the postman.
Alan Bowd, professor emeritus of education, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay
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Don't come back
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says "more than 100 Canadians have left the country to support or participate in extremist movements abroad" (Muslim Groups, Police Struggle To Counter Militant Recruitment – Aug. 29).
I hope they are also intelligent enough to deny them re-entry to this wonderful country.
Wendy Heitshu, Ottawa
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Frozen pensions
Re Britain Presses NATO On Veterans Support (Sept. 1):
This is a bit rich. Do you know what happens to the pensions of British veterans when they emigrate to a Commonwealth country? They're frozen.
I have been receiving a small British state pension for the past 19 years, and receive the same amount today as I did in 1995. What really hurts is the fact that if we had chosen to move to the United States, Spain, Libya, or anywhere but a Commonwealth country, we would get all the increases that those who stayed in Britain receive.
The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners is in a seemingly neverending fight to right this injustice. Any support is welcome.
Mark Robertson, Charlottetown
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Gouda one
Barrie McKenna points out that higher economic efficiencies in Canada are threatened by tensions arising from the interprovincial trade in cheese (Canada Pursues Deals Abroad, But Free Trade Remains Elusive At Home – Business, Sept. 1).
This is definitely a wedge issue.
David Fox, Toronto