text: It is common for us to view the loss of control as a loss of dignity.  It is not so. Our loss of dignity as humans comes when we fail to love.  
  In the face of suffering, we are called to love, to reach out in compassion and to "suffer with" another.
  Independence and our need for control can stand in the way of our accepting the love of another.  When Peter refused to have his feet washed by Jesus, he was reminded that refusing this act of love would leave him on the outside.
  How much greater would have been the outpouring of love, if he who committed "assisted suicide" would have accepted the care of those who loved him, and lived on in a relationship with those who chose to care for him?  Wouldn't the dignity of mankind have shined brighter? How much greater would be the dignity of the Physician had he stood at the ready to aid and comfort the man in his suffering?
  
  The way of love is not the easy way, it is often the way of sacrifice and, of suffering, but always the way of dignity.