Rather, people rate their quality of life in different ways with no two individuals’ assessment the same. While a life without pain is clearly better than a life with pain, this is not always the most important issue. Instead it is that person’s own complex assessment of their life’s worth that is the key. The physical symptoms of an illness are often only one of many considerations.
Tired of Life / Completed Life
Over the past decade, the trend of ‘completed life’ or ‘tired of life’ has grown more and more. Increasingly at our meetings, we see elderly people who are ‘fit and healthy’ (for their age), but for whom life has become burdensome. These people are not depressed. Rather, the sentiment expressed is that ‘I have lived enough of the good life and now it is time to go.’ The actions of Australian couple, Sidney and Marjorie Croft, explain this phenomenon well.
In 2002, the Crofts sent Exit their suicide note in which they explained why they had decided to go together. Exit had no prior knowledge of the couple’s plans. We knew only that they had attended several Exit workshops where they would sit at the back of the room, holding hands and asking questions.
The Crofts did not need to write this note yet they wanted us to understand. And in return they asked for our respect.