It was very difficult to read the opinions of some Scarborough residents regarding the proposed hospice house. More specifically the comments of Margaret Foshay, “I think I will have a very hard time being publicly enthusiastic about a holding house for the dying. … There is no amount of flowers or flowery language that will make me want to welcome death in my neighborhood.”

I hope Ms. Foshay is still with us and has not passed due to sheer embarrassment or humiliation.

Was there actually a “push” for being enthusiastic about death? And please forgive me if I question “… a holding house for the dying.” Ms. Foshay, the proposal is not for a chicken coop.

The people that are being “held” are people in their final days on this earth. They are your neighbors, friends and possibly your own family some day. I had a friend that was cared for by hospice while she dying. The hospice workers were the most caring, unselfish group of professionals I had ever seen.

And then there is the traffic issue. Admittedly I feel this to be the strongest point regarding the proposal. Still, my common sense dictates that it simply is not right to deny people the joy of family, friends, clergy, etc. as they prepare to die. There is nothing “flowery” about dying but it is not a sin.

We all begin the process of aging and dying the moment we are brought into this world. That period between the two events, life and death, is very important to those we care about and those who care about us.

But, for the sake of Ms. Foshay perhaps the idea of a hospice house should be scrapped and a Dunkin Donuts could be constructed. On second thought another doughnut shop? Won’t that just increase the need for hospice?

What a vicious circle.

Theresa Graessle

Cape Elizabeth