No, no. She wishes she were dead. Can't you see?
To keep showing the videos of Terri Schiavo in her allegedly brain-dead state is obscene. Bloggers on both sides of the divide claim to speak for her, but we cannot know where she lives now or what she feels. We can know for sure only the unspeakable pain of her loving and ever hopeful parents. We wouldn't deign to guess the motives or feelings of her husband. It is none of our business.
Our understanding is that these difficult last rites are usually worked out quietly among doctors, patients and families, unnoticed by the lawyers, within hospital walls. Something like that happened with us when we finally let our beloved mother go.
When the lawyers swoop in, things get ugly. Or is it when things get ugly, the lawyers swoop in? Either way, it is unseemly for such intimate sorrow to be held up to the TV camera's eye and presented every fifteen minutes as just one more item among equals, together with the Michael Jackson jury, Scott Peterson's trial, the latest Amber Alert -- and, oh, yes, the latest suicide bombings in the Middle East. For shame. The media -- and the self-righteous bloggers -- should back off and let this precious woman live or die out of the limelight.
I have been following this case. I understand both sides of the argument. but let me say one thing. The law says that her husband is her guardian. Not her parents. Her parents are hanging on to hope that her daughter will get better. If Congress is allowed to pull this political magic. Eventually, even if you have a living will, it wont matter. You're final wishes will some how be disregarded. The courts proved her wishes by her husband, best friend and brother in law to be legal, and that they should be followed.
It's not up to Us the public to decide what a person's fate is. Nor is it up to Congress. Its up to the person who is ill or the person who is their guardian.
Lets say for the sake of argument that it was Terri's wish to be disconnected. Who are we to say, NO, you must live as a 6-11 month old baby for the rest of your life (which is what her mother has described her condition as). To me that would be worse than death its self.
This is not about Right to life. Its about Right to die.
The people or the government do not have the right to intervene in something that has been claimed legal by a judge, just because the public is appalled by it.
Sorry folks. I believe in the Right to life. But I also believe in the right to die as well.
To the parents of this poor woman if you happen to read this, for God's sake. Let your daughter go.
To the press, I am so upset that you keep showing this woman's video on the news. Its disgusting.
To members of Congress. You do not have the authority to intervene in the day to day decesions of the family.
And to those who think I am a right wing fanatic. I am not. I do not believe in abortion. I do not believe in the death penalty. But I believe that a person's wishes (whether written on a document or not) should be followed. And just because the parents don't want to believe it/accept it, doesn't change it.
David E. Harris
Posted by: David Harris | March 20, 2005 at 12:12 AM