Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Opting-out

In (legal) contracts and/or Service Level Agreements (SLA’s), an opt-out condition might well be its most overlooked feature. In our lives, others are responsible for our opt-in (eg, parents), and our opt-out (eg, euthanasia).

In most countries, opting-out is (very) difficult – or just impossible – once you choose to follow the legal means (eg, euthanasia in the Netherlands). I prefer not to dwell on the illegal means, in- or excluding suicide.

Wikipedia: “As of 2023, some forms of voluntary euthanasia are legal in AustraliaBelgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New ZealandSpain and Switzerland.”

In my view, euthanasia is about caring and about empathy for whom are about to die and suffer too much. Few people would deny such care for their pets. Nevertheless, too many people deny fellow humans opting for euthanasia.

In many European countries, however, a cancellation of an opt-in – a.k.a. abortion – is legal; see Wikipedia for details. The huge discrepancy between legislation for an opt-in and an opt-out is beyond my comprehension.

In America, several conservative US states now view abortion as murder, following the 2022 cancellation by the U.S. Supreme Court of its 1973 decision (ie, Roe v. Wade). The medical reasons for such abortions are now causing an increase in US infant mortality.

The importance and relevance of a legal opt-out is only increasing following our increased life-expectancy, especially at 60+. The Lancet-2015: “In high-income countries, life expectancy at age 60 years has increased in recent decades.”

Unfortunately, an opt-out for people at 80+ years will – most likely – come too late for many. Apparently, they must suffer from our lawmakers.

In The End (2001) by Linkin Park
band, lyrics, video, Wiki-band, Wiki-song

Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day

Note: all markings (bolditalicunderlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.

Archives

VIPosts

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pin It on Pinterest