Beginnings and Endings and Choice

New Year’s Greetings. I have been absent over the holidays, celebrating the season and the turn of the calendar with friends, good food and good cheer. I held back from writing. It became a time for reflection and quiet renewal ahead of a busy period.

I am preparing for a number of events in January on medical aid in dying (MAID). It remains emotionally draining, even a decade after embracing the issue when Mary, my wife, was dying. But the importance has not lessened, despite the significant progress we have made as more states pass legislation authorizing MAID. (Thank you New York and Illinois and Delaware — that makes 14 US jurisdictions).

If you are interested in learning more about end-of-life issues, I invite you to join some of these events this month:

Sunday, January 11 - The Hebrew Center of Greater Washington is hosting a discussion on the challenges of medical aid in dying, examining the issue from the perspective of practitioners and experts in rabbinical law (reformed, conservative and orthodox). I am honored to be a speaker, along with Dr. Katalin Roth, a leader in medical ethics and fellow board member of End of Life Options DC. You can join the event in person, 12.30-3 pm, or by Zoom here: Register here: https://www.smithlifecommunities.org/event/the-challenges-of-medical-aid-in-dying/.

Tuesday, January 13 - End of Life Options DC holds a Lobby Day on Capitol Hill to heighten awareness among members of Congress about the importance of allowing states to give the terminally ill a choice in how they meet death. For the fifth time in eight years, House Republicans are trying to strip Washington DC of that right by repealing its Death with Dignity Act. We meet at 10.30 am in the Senate Hart office building lobby. We have six meetings scheduled already.

Thursday, January 15 - Screening and panel discussion of “Other Side”, a documentary about Lynda Bluestein, a terminally ill Connecticut resident who fought and won the right to access Vermont’s medical-aid-in-dying law. The film provides an intimate look at love, autonomy and the complexity of end-of-life care. I will participate in the post-screening discussion at the West End Library in Washington, DC, from 4.30-7.30 pm. The film also is being screened in Maryland: Enoch Pratt Central Library in Baltimore on Monday, at Brooklyn Park library on Tuesday, and Laurel library on Wednesday. For Marylanders, where legislation is currently stalled, this is a great opportunity to explore the issue.

I also will be speaking at a national conference on healing, details to follow.

The days are beginning to lengthen, the light is returning. May you have peace in your hearts and joy in the beauty of life, ever renewing.

My German Shepherd Eiger who is reaching the end of his days is lying at my feet as I write this. He tosses back his head and looks at me with huge brown eyes full of devotion as I massage his painful back. He has taught me more about giving than I have been able to teach him about living.

Eiger, the indominatable with such zest for life, in Alaska, 2024

But Eiger, ah well, that is quite another story, one for another time …..