Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Holly Hunter
Mrs. Bowyer
Expos Period 2
3 November 2016
Every year people are impacted by natural disasters, accidents, or simply just the
results of aging. Who is to say those lives werent worth anything, such as after 9/11?
No one has the right to tell someone they have to stay alive, likewise, no one has the
right to claim there time is up. All life is valuable and should be valued, not for racial or
socioeconomic status, but for how much they impact other people's lives.
November 11, 2001 was a tough time for many people, and the government took
it upon themselves to try and help the mourning families financially. Specifically,
Congress was to help, creating the safety net (Ripley 58) for the families of victims.
The fund was to ensure that they maintained something resembling their current
standard of living whether they got assistance from private insurance or the
government (Ripley 58). Not everyone received this financial support however,
according to the rules of the fund, the families had to subtract all the money they were
already getting from other sources, away from the starting amount the government set
to see what they would really receive (Ripley 57). Some families received nothing for
their loved ones, have that be a child or significant other. Its wrong for the government
to place a dollar value on a human life, especially if the money given is based upon your
job you or status. If that person you lost had a poor job they became worth nothing in
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the eyes of the government. This needs to change we cannot allow the government to
Where is the value of life for the injured? They should be aloud, at some point, to
decide they don't want to keep fighting for this life. We already have laws for
competence in patients, so why after years of them struggling in life would we continue
to deny them the right to end their life. Ending their life when only the advances in the
medical field are keeping them alive such as receiving surgeries, or having care givers
do everything for you including helping you go to the bathroom and achieve everyday
tasks. Roger Ebert is a significant example of someone who fought, and should be
allowed to stop fighting. The point is that he tried to overcome his hardship he valued
his life and others, and if we had to assign value to a life that should be how we do it --
based upon the goodness of their heart. Ebert has struggled to stay alive and because
of his relentless effort he should be allowed after all he has gone through to give up the
fight and rest in peace for the first time in a long time. Ebert expresses that fighting for
his life can have benefits and at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have
done something to make others happier, and something to make ourselves a little bit
happier, that is about the best we can do (Jones 73). As Ebert fought for his life he
didn't want pity, he wanted people to be moved by him, he wanted people to see how
happy he was making a difference in their lives and bringing awareness to the fact that
events happen, but you need to push through to see what life can bring you.
Will, a paraplegic, had a similar yet different view on life. In You Before Me
Directed by Thea Sharrock, Lou, a caregiver, tries to help Will gain happiness in his life
again. Wills decision to end his life although he gained happiness can be justified with a
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quote from the play Hamlet by Shakespeare which argues by a sleep to say we end/
the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks/ that flesh is heir to (Shakespeare 65),
proving that death is the only way to end the hurt that Will can never get back. Will
fought for as long as he could, but in the end as Ebert had, gave up the fight because
nothing could give him his life back, he understood that he was hurting people, but it
was the only way to stop his own suffering and shame. We should allow people to have
this option, we cannot force people to stay alive with a life that's so painful. Anyone
should be allowed to end their life especially if it means very poor value of life for that
individual. That does not mean that their life has no value, but it does mean that they
should not be forced to go on if the value of their life has been stripped away from them.
Every person on the planet has value to their life. You could be hurt, an everyday
person, or terminally ill. No one has the right to assign value to a person. The value
should not be based on the amount of money you can pay or the amount of money you
make. Value is based on how you are as a person. No one can take or determine your
Works Cited
Jones, Chris. Roger Ebert: The Essential Man. Esquire 16 Feb. 2010. Web.
Me Before You. Dir. Thea Sharrock. Perf. Emilia Clarke, Sam Clafin. MGM, 2016. DVD.
Ripley, Amanda. What Is a Life Worth? Time 11 Feb. 2002. 22-27. Print
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Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Act III, Sc. 1: Hamlets To be, or not to be soliloquy