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Most of what I've written has been published as e-books and is available at Amazon. Match Play is a golf/suspense novel. Dust of Autumn is a bloody one set in upstate New York. Prairie View is set in South Dakota, with a final scene atop Rattlesnake Butte. Life in the Arbor is a children's book about Rollie Rabbit and his friends (on about a fourth grade level). The Black Widow involves an elaborate extortion scheme. Happy Valley is set in a retirement community. Doggy-Dog World is my memoir. And ES3 is a description of my method for examining English sentence structure.
In case anyone is interested in any of my past posts, an archive list can be found at the bottom of this page. I'd appreciate any feedback you may have by sending me an e-mail note--jertrav33@aol.com. Thanks for your interest.

Thursday, November 3

Euthanasia

My best pal Dusty, our tabby cat, is getting old. And he’s lost so much weight he looks like the greyhound in 50/50, called Skeletore because he looked like death warmed over. He sleeps almost all day and night, and he wobbles when he walks. There’s something wrong with Dusty other than his sixteen years, but he doesn’t seem to be in pain. We’re afraid we’ll soon have to take him to the vet to be put down (what an odd euphemism for “killed”). How does one decide when it’s time for the put down? “Euthanasia” is made up of “eu” (good) and “thanatos” (death), a good death, one that avoids the pain and suffering leading to death. When the time comes for me to take him there, I’ll probably weep like a baby, even though I know he’ll forgive me. Heroic measures for an aging cat are needlessly expensive and foolish, just as they would be for a dying spouse or child. My fear is that a stroke or dementia could allow me to live long after all quality of life is gone, a condition that could bankrupt my wife or children. The question of proper time leads me to the question of assisted suicide. How does one know when it’s time to pull the plug (another odd euphemism) on oneself or a loved one? Where does one find another Kavorkian? How does one avoid the legal ramifications? Maybe move to Oregon. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see, just as I now wait on Dusty.

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