I not-so-recently finished the book You Before Me, which stirred some deep thinking on my end (surprising, I know). The plot is centered around a man, Will, who lives a very big, very active life and through a freak accident ends up a quadriplegic. The book is centered around Will's desire to end his own life, the right to die.
As I read this book, I alternated between two intertwined veins of thought. In the first vein, I followed the path of loved ones surrounding Will, who were trying in every way to convince him life was worth living. What would I do to convince a loved one to stay and find the beauty in this world? Probably anything within my power, even a willingness to step outside legal boundaries in my desire to achieve the end goal.
The second vein of thought involved traveling Will's path and viewing his desire to make this one most basic choice for himself. This was a much harder path to follow, perhaps because I could recognize how easily it could be travelled and how the choice of death could be made with validity. Is dignity in death such an outlandish desire?
This is one of those topics that illustrates to me how my own perceptions have changed with time. I used to define my world as so starkly black and white; now it swirls with layers upon layers of grey.
I finished this book last week and felt similarly. It's too easy to say "I could never do that" when we haven't been in the same position. Layers of gray, indeed. Nonetheless, it made me sad Will made the choice he did.
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