“Shame on You”
Dear Murray Lewis,
As a subscriber, I have to say that I am appalled by your editor’s letter in the July/August 2016 issue [“A Rose Is a Rose”]. As an individual, you are certainly entitled to your opinion on assisted dying, but as an editor, you should remain neutral. Shame on you for taking advantage of your position to belittle and shame the legitimate view of many others in preference to your own opinion. Consider my subscription cancelled.
[Name withheld for reasons of privacy]
via e-mail
On the Other Hand…
Dear Murray,
I read Good Times largely for your letter. I have enjoyed getting to know you and hearing your opinions. I may not always agree with you, but I like your reasoned and passionate arguments. I expect this issue will generate some negative comment. I hope it is about the issue and not the writer.
Canadians do need to talk about medical assistance in dying. Thanks for your thoughts.
Penny Bryans
via e-mail
Thank you for being straightforward in your opinion piece “A Rose Is a Rose.” No one wants to see another suffer, but death is not therapeutic!
My husband died of cancer of the stomach three years ago. He suffered some but also got the most loving care and pain therapy at our local hospice. As I put it, the people there loved him to death. They loved me, too—and our family—so I could go on living. Now our daughter, a nurse, has become a hospice nurse. She is learning to love them to death.
We aren’t in control of much in this life, but we take every opportunity to argue that we are and sometimes we make laws just to prove it. I’ll choose life till natural death. Thank you.
Mary Jane Murphy
Windsor, ON
A concern I have is for the elderly and disabled who may feel they need to “do the right thing” and end their lives because they feel they are a burden in some way. I believe that much can be done to improve and expand palliative care and that this is the direction to go.
Danni Perkins
Canmore, AB
An Erroneous Zone?
You are incorrect about the cold hardiness of F. magellanica. I have a source that says this fuchsia is cold-hardy to USDA Zone 6.
Rosemary Sheppard
Toronto
[Carol Hall replies:] You are quite right that F. magellanica is officially hardy to USDA Zone 6. I say “officially” because respected gardening sources often differ on a particular plant’s rating and cold-hardiness zones are at best a rough guide to plant survival. When I said no fuchsias are hardy outdoors in Toronto, I meant that while they would likely be root-hardy with protection (as I elaborated later), they’re not guaranteed to overwinter there in their full glory. On the other hand, experimentation with pushing hardiness zones is a time-honoured gardening tradition and hardy fuchsias are well worth a try in southern Ontario.
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