Over the years there has been much discussion about “quality of life.” Typically the discussion involves health issues. In a general sense quality of life (QOL) becomes a more diluted definition. What is the QOL of Texans? Are we better off than other Americans?
Medically speaking it is much easier to discern. A healthy human with no medical issues is considered to have a high quality of life. We go down from there until we come to the debate on ending a life.
You may recall the Florida case of Terry Schiavo. In short, she was declared permanently brain damaged and vegetative. It is billed as a “right to die” case; however, she was not dying not had expressed wishes to be terminated if she ever became in such state. It was really a “right-to-kill” discussion.
Her husband opted to remove her feeding tube, thus starving her to death. Her biological family fought him in court and lost. Most states recognize the spouse as next of kin and has medical power of attorney to make such decisions. Since then the Terry Schiavo Life and Hope Network was established.
Most recently we heard of British subject Charlie Gard. Charlie was an infant born with a rare genetic disorder. Britain’s National Health Service determined there was nothing more that could be done. The family raised over a million US dollars for treatment.
The Vatican offered to fly Charlie to their hospital for treatment. American doctors offered to bring Charlie to the US in hopes of help. Instead, national pride overrode human compassion and medical discovery and the NHS declared that Charlie was their subject, he could not and would not be helped outside Britain and there he would, and did, die.
I had the honor of becoming acquainted with a well known family who dealt with difficult circumstances. Their son, Johnny, was born with Downs Syndrome in 1962. The doctors insisted that due to Johnny’s quality of life the family should leave Johnny with them because they were trained and equipped to deal with special patients such as Johnny.
The family discussed and prayed over the matter. They informed the doctors that Johnny was God’s blessing to them regardless of his condition or “quality of life.” He was their family and they would take him home and care for him.
The doctors insisted he remain with them. Under family care he would not live to see his fifth birthday. The family said that Johnny may not receive the same medical attention but he would receive the love that every human deserves and doctors can not provide. They would call the doctor when they needed him.
Johnny died 46 years later.
Iceland recently announced their plan to have a society free of unhealthy people. It is 100% guaranteed to provide all Icelandic citizens a high quality of life. The solution? After fetal testing, abortion of fetus’ who do not meet medical requirements for their standard of living. Therefore; it really is not about “quality of life,” rather “standard of living.”
Quality of life has other meanings that is difficult to define. Think tanks have come up with the “QOL Index” in effort to define best places in the world. The QOL is definitely by various factors ranging from hard numbers to opinion.
The QOLI factors things such as income levels, house prices, entertainment venues, parks, athletics programs, school grade averages/dropouts and general sense of happiness.
Several months ago I got into a social media discussion with a Californian over quality of life. They bragged about how California’s QOL was better than Texas’. It was a subject I had never considered. I was pretty content with life in Texas. No one ever told me that I had a low quality of life.
Parks and entertainment centers are great. It gives people something to do. But quality of life is a personal matter. There are poor people who live in run down shacks rolling their own cigarettes and hanging out with friends who have nothing to offer nor lose.
Meanwhile, there are rich people who have the newest and best of everything in effort to fill a void in their life. They are surrounded by other rich folk who would cut the relationship in an instant if it meant a better business opportunity.
It was a subject of confusion for the Roman Empire as they expanded into Africa and the Middle East. They brought running water, arts, culture and higher standard of living to the plebes of the savage areas. They could not understand why the locals constantly rejected their efforts and authority; especially over such silly matters as “false gods” and tribalism.
So who determines the quality of life in Texas? Texans do. Most of us highly value human life, even if they are still in the womb. Each of us decide for ourselves how happy we are with our personal situation. As for a general social standard, Texans look forward to an even better QOL once we declare our independence and are free from the regulatory shackles of DC.
