Twice I’ve had near misses with
Death

once a murderous blood cancer
tried to kill me slowly
perhaps it

was sadistic and wanted to
draw out my passing
for its ghoulish pleasure

the second time, my heart
went a little crazy
electrically

out of sync with its
two chambers

and I was told by a doctor
I could die at any minute

medical interventions saved
my life both times

months of cancer treatments
pills and infusions

a pacemaker for the errant
heart

I don’t believe I’ll have any
more near misses

because either I did instantly
maybe in sleep

or if the cancer returns
I let it do its thing and
slowly kill me

rather than prolonging my
life any more medically

Bob Boyd

I worked with the elderly for over twenty years, and from my experiences and general observations of people aging, in my opinion, living too long can eventually become a losing proposition for most people: Your quality keeps diminishing; your body keeps breaking down more and more, like an old, worn out machine; you may lose the ability to take care of yourself; you could be sent to a nursing home, or you lose your mind, your sense of self, to a heartless, ravenous dementia.

And I believe there comes a point where being kept medicaly alive just isn’t worth it – along with the exorbitant costs, physically, mentally, and monetarily.