La prétendue « aide médicale à mourir » et la dignité humaine

We will literally live our own death only when, still living, we shall die, that is to say at the very instant of our death. No one can die in my stead. I can give my life for someone, but I cannot die in her or his stead in the strict sense. Our own death belongs to us alone, and we have a right not to be deprived of it. Furthermore, it concerns our entire life; it is never an isolated, abstract instant, for there is no such thing. The dying person is a living person. At the ultimate moment, it finds itself wholly engaged in the act of dying. To die is indeed an act. One must actually live one’s death; make it one’s own, in accord with one’s own inner life. What is one to make of the meaning of «to die» in the expression «to die with dignity»? It ought to be clear that it’s true, concrete meaning, from a philosophical point of view, is to die humanly. The question is to be able to make your death your own, to live it in the fullest possible conscience of your dignity as a free woman or man.