One of my cousins decided to share his opinion on social security the other day.  He’s lucky that neither my mother and I weren’t there.  My nanny told us about it today because it had her really upset.  This was in front of both my grandparents* and his mother*, all of which wouldn’t be alive without medication and/or medical help.  His girlfriend also just died a month ago after a long battle with MS and cancer.  He said that he believed that when people reach a certain age that they should be required to die.  He believes that at a certain point in a person’s life, whether they’ve reached a certain age or health problem, that a doctor should just stick a needle in their arm and kill them.  That this should be a normal thing to be adopted into society.  He also said that he believes that when he reaches my grandparents’ age (younger than his parents, btw) that it will be something that the government will have adopted, something he will see in his lifetime happen.  For some reason he thinks that this will solve the problems with social security.  Really? REALLY?!  He’s in his thirties, so I can’t really blame age on his opinion.  I guess I could blame that he’s an alcoholic.  Maybe his brain cells are off having a party.  My nanny asked him if he thought his life was worth more than her’s.  He didn’t answer, so she said, “Well, it’s not.  No life is worth more than another.  It’s not your decision whether I should live or not, it’s no one’s decision but mine (and God’s).  You have no right to think your life is better than anyone else’s.”

* nanny: polycystic kidney disease, end-stage renal failure, on kidney dialysis three days a week, has heart problems (had heartattack), heart regurgitation, osteoporosis, brain aneurysm
paw: diabetes, heart problems (has had several heart attacks, triple bypass, valve replacement, etc), blockages in both legs
his mom: Multiple sclerosis, Fibromyalgia