Canada’s foray into state-sanctioned euthanasia serves as a powerful case study into how quickly society abandons morality and ethical norms when the law fails to enforce them. It’s also a reminder of the humility necessary to embrace the beauty of life. 

Medical assistance in dying, Canada’s state-sanctioned euthanasia, currently makes up about one in 20 deaths in the country. In 2016 alone, MAID was responsible for the deaths of over 15,000 people.  

Robert Munsch, a world-renowned Canadian children’s author, could soon number among the casualties.  

All attacks on human life and dignity are tragic. Yet Munsch’s decision to seek MAID is particularly sobering considering his famous children’s novel Love You Forever, which beautifully conveys the “natural cycle of life, and the unconditional love for which we are made,” as Amanda Achtman writes for Public Discourse.  

The story features a mother who sneaks into her sleeping baby son’s room to hold him. The mother continues this practice throughout the boy’s childhood until his adulthood. In turn, her son symbolically returns years of love and support by cradling his mother when she is old and sick. The story impresses upon readers the beauty of the circle of life and the selfless love that enables it to operate.  

The novel was inspired in part by Munsch’s grief over losing two children. After his wife Ann gave birth to a stillborn daughter and son, Munsch crafted a sweet refrain for them: “I’ll love you forever / I’ll like you for always / As long as I’m living / my baby you’ll be.” 

Sadly, Munsch seems to have forgotten this message. 

Munsch applied for MAID after getting diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease. As the New York Times reported, Munsch couldn’t bear the thought of “lingering,”  slowly dying as his loved ones pushed for additional treatments. Disturbingly, the paper noted that Munsch “can’t wait too long because, under Canada’s law, he must be able to actively consent on the day of his death.” 

Munsch allegedly struggled with depression, mental illness, and alcoholism for much of his life. He also dealt with extreme loss after his children’s deaths. Yet Munsch persevered through all these struggles, with the help of his family and his passion for writing. 

Unfortunately, Munsch lost his faith pretty early on in his life. So, when he began to lose the ability to write novels, connect with the youth, or engage in correspondence with his many adolescent fans, Munsch seems to have suffered from a crippling loss of identity.  

 “Now that he can no longer tell stories, which had always been such a key part of his identity, he is shaken and vulnerable,” Achtman writes in Public Discourse. 

Achtman argues that Munsch’s identity crisis is playing a role in his desire for death. This crisis seems to be a byproduct of Munsch’s choice to find meaning and purpose in work, rather than grounding himself in something more permanent such as faith.  

Without faith, Munsch fails to see the value in his suffering. And without just laws that reflect the dignity of the human person, Munsch — and countless others seeking MAID — erroneously believes that legally ending his life is the moral choice.  

For example, Munsch expressed fears about being a “lump” to his wife as his dementia increases. This fear of burdening loved ones or friends seems to be a driving factor behind why many seek MAID. It is heartbreakingly misguided.  

As Munsch so aptly conveys in Love You Forever, from the earliest days of life, children are beloved “burdens” — wholly dependent on their parents for love, protection, and guidance. Yet rather than feeling hindered by children’s dependence, most parents would do anything — even give up their own lives — for their kids. As parents age and slowly degenerate physically and mentally, it is profoundly beautiful that children can finally return the love and service their parents showered on them throughout their lives.  

While Munsch may not have intended it, the takeaway from the story is that dependence on one another is an important part of the human experience. It gives us purpose; it enables us to love more fully and more selflessly. It allows us to check our pride in letting others care for us if necessary and vice versa, to deny ourselves in caring for our loved ones when they are in need.  

Achtman argues that Munsch’s choice to die by MAID “would contradict the message of unconditional love that he shared all those years ago,” adding that it “would also contradict the support and understanding with which, thankfully, he was met throughout his life.”  

More than that, MAID contradicts the truth that every human being was created for a purpose. Part of Munsch’s life purpose seems to have been writing Love You Forever, which reminded the world that human beings have a duty toward one another, to selflessly love one another and care for each other throughout the natural cycle of life. 

Aristotle once said that good law should be reason, free from passion. MAID serves as a tragic affront to reason, a law grounded in passion that has convinced tens of thousands of human beings that death is a solution to problems that love and humility could erase.