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Christopher Moreno
Professor Jackie
English 115
November 4, 2014

Coin Flips

Fade In
New York Park Afternoon
Somewhere near New York, New York, the sun sets beautifully over a hill.
Glover, a man of faith, is sitting on a park bench, reading a Bible, and considering his life
choices.
Bowden, a legal analyst, is on his afternoon jog. He happens to see Glover sitting and he
approaches him.
Bowden
Hello. What are you reading?
Glover
Good afternoon. Well, I am currently reading a chapter out of the Bible. Its my daily devotional.
It gives me guidance when I am unsure of the choices that I have to make.
Bowden
Really? Interesting. Is it still relevant to todays problems? Obviously murder, robbery, and the
like have always existed. But what about things such as immigration or abortion? Or even
assisted suicide? Does is it say anything about helping a person life by allowing them to die?
Glover

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Funny that you mention assisted suicide; I happen to have written an article concerning that. I
invite you to take a look at it. Though I do include some of my religious bias, I argue from a
secular viewpoint.
Bowden
Well isnt that interesting. I also happen to have written an article on it. Obviously, Denmark and
the Netherlands are taking the initiative in allowing assisted suicide. And they are not using
leaving anything to chance. There are multiple steps that patients go through, including choosing
to have the doctor euthanize them after the patient has lost reasoning. Only Oregon and
Washington have followed this great idea. The rest of the United States is stubborn apparently.
Glover
How could you say that? You talk about ending life as easily as you would talk about, uh I dont
know, throwing away food once you are full. Life is beautiful. I believe that God gave each of us
a life to use to its fullest. To just throw it away because of pain, thats underappreciating what we
have. And even if you dont believe in God, it still is terrible. There are other alternatives to just
having a doctor end your life.
Bowden
I take it that you are arguing against assisted suicide. Well. This is going to be awkward.
But how could you, a religious man, who spreads the message of love and mercy, allow a poor
sick person to suffer? Would you rather that a person who has life-threatening cancer with six
months to live deal with slowly losing bodily functions? Or would you want a person suffering
from Alzheimers have their family witness their degeneration from a function person of societyno not just that-a loving, caring, person to a shell of themselves? A literal shell, because their

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memories fade away, and all thats left is what occurs in the moment. And no more moments are
had. Is that what youre God wants?
Glover
Youre a legal analyst! What could you possibly know about health and how relative it is to each
person? And another thing, God didnt leave us without a way out. Where do you think those
advances in science and medicine come in? They are products of intelligent people finding a way
to bypass the illness that have also developed. Pain is manageable. Not only through willpower,
but also with the use of medical drugs. And drugs used to kill people cost money. Imagine the
good we could do if we transfer the money that goes into producing that amount of euthanasia
into medical research regarding treatments for Alzheimers, cancer, and all those other illnesses.
See, the problem with your right to life, right to death argument is that instead of getting to the
root of the problem, you are deciding to do away with it all together.
Bowden
Do you have an illness?
Glover
No.
Bowden
Do you have a loved one that is suffering from an illness?
Glover
No.
Bowden
Than how could you argue against pain and suffering and talk about people dealing with that, not
just the patients but their loved ones mind you, when you dont know how it feels?

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Glover
How could you, a living human with no illnesses and with knowledge of the great things in this
world worth living for, stand there and talk about ending it all?
Bowden
Thats the thing. Terminally-ill people wouldnt be living. Theyd just be surviving. Its about
letting people die with dignity. When they were still capable but were tragically taken by an
illness.
Glover
And where does it end? For your information, Netherlands and Denmark also have high suicide
rates under the demographic of people that have no illness. Instead of allowing our people to die,
we need to find the cure against what is making them die. We need a solution, not an out.
They stare at each other. After a while, Glover continues his run. Bowden continues his reading.
The sun sets.
Exit.

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Works Cited
Bowden, Thomas. "Individuals Should Have a Legal Right to Choose Death." Opposing
Viewpoints. Gale, 1 Jan. 2009. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
Glover, Peter. "There Is No Justification for Legalizing Euthanasia."Opposing Viewpoints. Gale,
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Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.