Argumentative Essay: Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death

"Give me liberty or give me death" -Patrick Henry (Virginia Convention 1775)

If you were not given the essential liberties you wanted, or even needed, would it be worth it to live? Think of a freedom that you require, in order to express yourself that makes life worth cultivating. Now imagine, that freedom being taken from you for no reason at all. Would you cut the cord if you could?

That's what it feels like to be terminally ill.Thousands of people suffer from terminal illnesses like Cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and so many more. It gets to the point where it is hard every day for them. They can not speak, eat on their own, they can not leave the hospital, walk; the basic freedoms that we all take for granted.

You never know the loss

of these freedoms until they are gone for good. There is no chance of getting it back at this point. All that is left is to lose more and more until you are helpless. What is keeping you going are machines, and drugs that are your only hope to keep going.
We have all experienced a sense of loss at a time in our lives, where we are put at a disadvantage. Think of one right now, perhaps a broken bone, losing your voice, having a speech impediment, having a cold, or anything you can think of.
After a while that went away, your bones healed, your voice came back, and your cold cleared up. When you are terminally ill, it does not go away in a matter of time. It is now a part of you that a cast or cold medicine can not fix.
I can not explain what it would feel like to have numerous disadvantages at once, disabling you from living independently.

It is unimaginable yet people go through this everyday. But, there is one freedom that you can give them. The freedom to stop the pain, and end their silence. They have a say for the last time in their life, they can end all of their suffering with assisted suicide.

This gives the terminally ill the choice to end their life peaceful. This keeps people from helping the terminally ill violently kill themselves. 7.36% of terminally ill people have resulted in violently killing themselves, this equates to 300 people each year, due to the campaign for Dignity in Dying.

Others will argue that if a patient is terminally ill, they are not in the correct mindset to make that decision. Although, what opposers fail to recognize or acknowledge is what the person is going through. Like how I mentioned earlier that the pain they are experiencing is unimaginable. When you are in pain, you want it to be over as soon as possible. We all know when enough is enough. This kind of pain is prolonged and more severe like the heart racing. There are other ways for stopping pain, minimal pain, but this pain is way too severe to stop with some medication. The only way to stop it is to end it all at

once.
Religious conservatives oppose death on the basis of their belief about the worth of life and the meaning of suffering. Kara Tippetts, a devout christian who is terminally ill, wrote a letter Maynard to express the pain of knowing one's days are numbered. Yet not knowing if it could be 1 week or 5 years. She argues that it was never intended for us to decide when that last breath is breathed.
She believes it is more a fear of dying and suffering, that we chose suicide as a way out. I would completely agree with that. The fear of pain is a very heavy burden, and it follows us everyday until death. Not everyone is as strong as they seem. Not everyone can act strong for the satisfaction of others. That, itself is a lot of suffering. We know when enough is enough, but grasping the power to stop it, is considered a heinous thing.
Although the idea of assisted suicide may sound unnecessary and outrageous to others, but that is from the outlook of someone without these strong impairities. Once you have really experienced a strong wave of pain, you will understand the right to death.
Daniel James, a paralysed rugby player had tried several times to kill himself. His paralyzation was caused by the dislocation of his spine during a training session. He was 16 years old. His parents defended his choice to the media, because they did not want their son to “live what he felt was a second-class existence” and wanted him to “gain his wish”. And September 12, 2008, he had gained his wish.
If you were not given the essential liberties you wanted, or even needed, would it be worth it to live? This is not a topic where the majority says yes or says no. Some people think it is worth it while others do not. But that is not the deciding point of this. The question is: Are you okay with others having an assisted suicide?