The Walking Dead

Let's play a game. Would you rather. The fun game where decision making meets humor. Would you rather have all the phobias known to man-kind, or have to slowly skin your family and pets alive? That's a good one. Ready for another? Would you rather die, or live as a vegetable? Well, in the case of Henry Kitterage, vegetable it is. Having suffered from a stroke, Henry, the once outgoing, friendly, popular man, now can not talk or see. Hearing remains the question. Can Henry hear his wife's whispers into his ear, telling him about his son and daughter-in-law? His wife, Olive, will never know. No sign of recognition or idenification in his movements. Just a confused, smiling stare. Olive tries to communicate with her husband. "'Squeeze my hand if you understand,"' she would whisper, hoping a small movement would occur in her husband's hand (147). But "his hand did not squeeze her's" (147). In the case of my Grandfather, vegetation was not an option. The moment he was rushed to the hospital and put on the ventilator, the cord was cut. As soon as we walked into the hospital, we told them to let him go. He always would ask me, who would want to live like that? It's not living. I believe that Olive's decision to let Henry live in a state where no one was sure if he was there or not is wrong. Nobody deserves to live like that. You're just the walking dead.