Wow, talk about a slippery slope. Should anyone be denied life because they made bad health choices? Now, before I get on my little soapbox here, let me first state that I don’t like the fact that our income is taxed so much to provide medical insurance for everyone BUT us. Still, since we have a social system with said benefits, would I want someone to die because they were a smoker or overweight- absolutely not. Since we have the welfare system up and running (kinda), then I surely don’t want to deny someone coverage by discriminating. I think that idea is awfully evil. I can judge people all day long if I like, but I wouldn’t damn them to an avoidable death simply cause they had a cigarette.
People in America have the freedom to make bad choices. I am not one to force my standard of choice on someone else. I quit smoking two years ago, this Saturday 4/18. My heart is perfectly healthy, just so you know. I wish my family and friends could or would quit, but I’d never force them even for their own good. They have rights. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I don’t recall the founding fathers telling Ben Franklin that he didn’t count because of his pot belly or smoking of a cigar. (Just picking Franklin out of the air, I have no idea what his weight or lungs were like).
I believe that no one really should have the authority to deny life- saving surgery to anyone. As soon as you push for fat smokers to be denied, the person you leave in charge of that judgment call might just well think something YOU do is cause to let you die in the future. So, if you cannot care about Mr. Fat Smoker down the street, at least care about yourself not to give someone the power to destroy YOU.
Where has the sanctity of life gone in our society that brought us to the brink here where people would have someone die for not making identical choices? Every life has promise to it, even the drug addicts; they can clean up someday and discover the cure for Cancer for all we know. I have seen people rise from the ashes when society left them in the gutter to rot, a few of them were in that gutter from making bad choices, but their life didn’t end there. You really can’t judge a life by looking at one speck on the timeline, and even if that could be accurate, who among us can be fit to judge? I understand it may not be fair that your tax dollars funded coronary artery bypass surgery for someone you think is not worthy of it. Hey, life’s not fair. We all learned that in kindergarten.
