Today I wrote a short, and I mean short, fiction piece for NPR's Three Minute fiction contest.  It had to begin with the line, "The nurse left work at five o'clock."  Being the procrastinator that I am, I waited till today, the deadline (no pun intended) to compose the story.  My mind veered towards assisted suicide.

This is a heated topic and I'm sorry if I've offended you oh blog reader with the sight of Dr. Death himself.

At this writing, Oregon is the only state where a person can legally kill themselves.  I don't know which side of the fence I'm on.  But, I'm sure there are people who are suffering to such a degree that they just want the pain to end.  And I'm talking physical pain, here.

I talked with some people for their thoughts on this subject. One woman said, "My dad said if he ever started losing it, he might just wander off."  The problem with that scenario is that once you've lost your mind, you forget to wander off.

I propose that people young and old start thinking about how they want to die.  There is a simple form here in my state called "Five Wishes."  You only need two non-related people to sign as your witnesses.  I think I'm going to get one this week.

If you click on the title, Dr. Death, it will take you to the Five Wishes sight.  I triple dog dare you.