There has been a lot in the news in recent months over the whole issue of assisted suicide and mercy killing. We have Margo MacDonald’s bill in the Scottish Parliament, which is unlikely to gain enough support to become law, and we have also had the recent public confession of Ray Gosling, that he ended the life of a former partner who was near death. As a society we seem not to know how to face the end of life. Perhaps for too long death is something that happens somewhere else, be it hospital or hospice, it happens away from the home and community. I am old enough to remember being taken by the grandmother to neighbours houses to “see” the man or woman who had just died and pay our respects. At the same time I was aware that the curtains in the street were drawn, the kids were off the roads and there was a slightly unusual quiet. The whole street and community shared in that loss. The whole process was public to the community, around the family and they were there to support and care, to take in pots of soup, to sit with them, whatever. Now this whole event of a life seems to have become isolated and insulated. There is a real issue we have to face as a community being, how do we treat or value life? Our focus at the moment is on the end of life issues, but there is more to life than its end. We still have effectively abortion “on demand” up to an age or gestation higher than premature babies can be sustained and nurtured. We have a medical response system that will put people immediately on to life support systems following severe accidents and then refuse to switch them off. Our view of life seems somewhat inconsistent. If we are going to have a public debate about life issues, then I would suggest we need to be able to discuss the whole of life issues, not just its end or its beginning, but all of it. In my job I have the great privilege to be with people as new life comes into the world and as a life goes out of it. That life, no matter how short or long, is immensely valuable. I have been with people who have fought for every moment of life and any policy to allow foreshortening is a huge responsibility for any society, whether that is on the hospital bed, road side or womb. Surely the starting point for our debate is, what is the value of life any and every life. For me life is the most precious gift we are given and as a community we have to seek ways of making sure that people make the most of their life that pain and illness is controlled and treated and realise the privilege it is to be allowed to be with someone as their life comes to its end, yes, it is hard and it does hurt and cause our hearts to ache, but that deepest moment of vulnerability can also be the deepest moment of love.