So, how did humanity get here? The decline in the number of people who identify as religious certainly plays a part in it; too many people now think they are the higher power who gets to decide everything. I'd also argue that it's part of the "strong men create good times, good times create weak men" cycle. We've had it too easy for so long that we no longer see any value in the process of suffering. This is true in the U.S. and particularly true in Canada and Western Europe, where assisted suicide seems to be on the rise.

RedState's Bob Hoge summed it up nicely when writing about the assisted suicide of a young woman in the Netherlands:

The cult of death and, frankly, the negativity that has been allowed to fester in Justin Trudeau’s Canada and Joe Biden’s America—and seemingly Europe as well—is a far cry from the optimism and hope that characterized American thought for two centuries now. It’s one of the many things that’s been lost in recent years as guilt, loss, and despair have become the dominant narratives of our cultural class. We were once a people of dreams and aspirations for ourselves and for our families. Now, in Western thought, it seems like a cult of doom has taken over—climate change will kill us all, our reliance on energy and plastic bags will be our ruin, and we’re all secretly racist in our deepest heart of hearts.

He's 100% correct. There is a climate of doom that's being perpetrated by the ruling class, resulting in people wanting to die, not because they are terminally ill, but because they are beaten down by life and don't have the skills to cope. //

As pro-lifers, we need to add that second bookend -- natural death -- to all of our efforts to value and save lives. We can't allow suicide to become an acceptable antidote to a challenging life, and we certainly can't allow suicide pods to become a normal part of society.