Euthanasia (peacefully pass away by oneself) | Jan 30 2004- Maya asked me the English word for it and also to comment on this subject. I happened to have done a study on euthanasia about 6-7 years ago. I can't recall our findings then at this very moment, but here is my personal opinion on the subject. I think we should view this issue from a broader perspective. In that sense, it is similar or along with several other debates, such as abortion and capital punishment. It's an issue of how we can become more humane. Here the traditional political or idelogical difference does not apply well in the sense that the righ and the left groups are pushing for different things but they really are based on the same concern: how to be more humane. Of course we would like to be more humane and extend our sympathy to a larger circle. But there is always the exceptions or the bad cases that tend to stop us from being more generous. Pregnant victims of rapes, serious or insane killers, and possibly ill-intended doctors or family members or even health-insurance or gov. who may abuse the application of euthanasia make us rethink and debate. In the end, more detailed laws and regulations may be established to let us be able to be more generous and humane or more reasonable but the lawyer cost may have to go up. Anyway, I'm not sure why Maya is so interested in this topic, and it seems to me that she is more and more interested in philosophical than literature issues now, including her concerns about women giving birth, euthanasia, etc.