On March 3, a Sun Journal headline read, “Let people die with dignity.”

According to the article, those who were in favor of the law want to cut red tape, and those against it said physicians must be involved in right-to-die cases and that the law would make suicide easier.

Let us refresh the country’s memory.

Last summer, a helpless Terri Shiavo was murdered by her husband by starvation in front of our eyes despite her parents’ tears and pleas.

Let us also remember a certain infamous Dr. Kevorkian who was involved in several murder-suicides and now is spending a life sentence in prison.

No one has the right to kill another person or kill himself.

Let us take an excellent example of a person who showed us how to die with dignity: Pope John Paul II.

The last several years of his life, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. He did not commit suicide; in fact, he continued guiding his church until the end of his life. He died a natural death. Pope John Paul II died with dignity because he believed that life begins at conception and ends with a natural death.

Let us remember that Pope John Paul II had a tracheotomy performed shortly before he died so he could breathe.

Before the Legislature of Maine makes any hasty laws concerning this issue, let us remember the unfortunate Terri Shiavo, the criminal Dr. Kevorkian, and the brave and wonderful Pope John Paul.

Charles and Diane Doyon, Lewiston