At 9:05 AM, ET, this morning, Terri Schiavo stepped into eternity, ending a long and heart-rending struggle by her parents to keep her alive. Her father, brother, and sister were in the room with her until about ten minutes before she died, when they were told to leave. It is not known where her husband was, no one has reported seeing him today, so it is possible that she died alone.
Schiavo’s case touched off a national debate when Judge George Greer ordered her feeding tube removed two weeks ago. People, from the President and the Florida governor, to the congress and the Florida legislature, got involved, and controversy has been strong on all sides. Whether or not one agrees with the decision of congress and the president, it is somewhat comforting to know that they were moved by the sadness of the situation, and that they cared enough about this one person to attempt lifesaving measures. It makes me believe that they would have cared had it been me, all legal arguments aside.
We have to be careful at this juncture, that we as a nation do not become a culture that places no value on disable persons, and that we make the proper moves to protect the lives of innocent people. After all, it is chilling to remember that the Nazi culture in Germany started out with killing the disabled and less-valued members of their society. I plead that we not start down that road! We must review our laws, and changes must be made to protect the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves. The strongest among us must dedicate ourselves to speaking for the weakest, for the preservation of precious life that only God can give.
Whatever our individual views, we must join the bereaved family in mourning the loss of Terri, and pray for their peace and strength.
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
—-John Donne—
Comment by Sgt. Mom — 20050331 @ 1212
“Whether or not one agrees with the decision of congress and the president, it is somewhat comforting to know that they were moved by the sadness of the situation, and that they cared enough about this one person to attempt lifesaving measures.”
No Joe. There are many of us who are quite discomforted by the fact that politicians on the federal level even felt they had any place in this situation, no matter how we felt about their decision.
I am reminded of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Hide and Q”: Commander Riker is given the god-like power of Q, as the Enterprise is speeding to assist with a mining disaster. Once there, Riker encounters a dead girl, which he now has the power to revive. But the ever-wise Captain Picard, knowing there are far larger issues in the sweep of humanity than the life or death of any individual, has made Riker promise not to use that power.
As we have seen here, we live in an age when our demigods in Washington are willing to exert their power over even the most intimate of our personal affairs. But our Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, knew that the exercise of that power, no matter how benevolent and enlightened it may seem to some at the time, can lead to no good.
Comment by Kevin L. Connors — 20050331 @ 1222
Of the things I found repellent about the whole ordeal, from the repugnant grandstanding of Congressmen and the President (who feel that they are now compelled to interfere in private family matters and violate the sanctity of marriage supposedly on behalf of someone whom they don’t know and who are ignorant of the facts of the matter), to the odious use of Schiavo by special interest groups out to advance their own agendas, the one thing that got me was the fact that you could starve a body to death but not administer a lethal morphine dose to do the same thing quicker and without any question of pain. I wouldn’t starve or dehydrate an animal to death, much less a human, even if the actual person no longer inhabited that body.
From the evidence I’ve seen, Terry Schiavo died 15 years ago. I guess they’ll better know what actually remained of the body’s CNS when they do the autopsy.
And where are all these people when the State executes somebody? I don’t see many of these people talking about the “culture of life” and talking about state-sponsored murder when executions happen.
Comment by Stryker — 20050331 @ 1310
With all the attention congress gave this situation, and all the grandstanding by both repubs & dems - why do we not have a national health care system? I sure heard a lot about the need to take care of Americans, to provide the means to keep us healthy and alive etc, etc. But Terri seems to be the only veggie tales character they cared about. Surely she couldn’t have donated that much oney to campaign funds…?
Comment by stikboy — 20050331 @ 1409
“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.”
~ Stephen Benet (1898-1943)
God rest her soul, and forgive all of us.
Comment by chaz — 20050331 @ 1432
may her afterlife be everything she never had in this one.
Comment by cpl blondie — 20050331 @ 1450
Did they try feeding her sweetened milk, or even water, via the mouth, again?
Sweetened milk would be something even a baby would swallow till it’s full.
/rkp
Comment by Grand-Admiral Petry (Raymond Kenneth Petry) — 20050331 @ 1638
WAIT, back the truck up here, stikboy. WTF does this issue have to do with a national health care system, except perhaps to surrender more of our liberties to Washington, as I have warned against?
It seems that you are exactly the type Stryker is railing against - who wish to use this family’s tragedy to rail for your pet issue.
Comment by Kevin L. Connors — 20050331 @ 1813
What do you want to bet that, like so many of our commenters who come here with their heads rammed up their asses, only to have them reciprocated back and forth a few times, we never hear from stikboy again?
Comment by Kevin L. Connors — 20050331 @ 2317
Sweetened milk would be something even a baby would swallow till it’s full.
From what I’ve read, she didn’t have the ability to swallow.
Comment by Stryker — 20050401 @ 0838