To be or not to be…
The recent media frenzy over Terri Schiavo has me thinking a lot about the issue. There is only one thing that is absolutely clear to me: Congress has absolutely no business whatsoever getting involved in what should be a personal and private matter. I'm extremely cynical when it comes to the efficacy of government, and bullshit like this is not helping.
Honestly I think the "right to life" crowd is full of it as well. Characterizations of "starving Terri to death" seem hardly appropriate. If Terry was cognitive and able to feed herself, locking her in a closet and denying her food and water would constitute starving her to death. If she was only cognitive enough to express the desire to be fed and still denied food, that would be starving her to death. Letting Nature take its course can hardly be viewed as a brutal act.
I'm having a really hard time understanding the justification of religious groups and their "right to life" nonsense. People have a right to life that man should not interfere with. All well and good. We don't take reprobates out to the corn field and shoot them. But when nature has acted and the ability of an individual to sustain its own life has ceased, saying such an individual has a right to life seems as foolish as saying I have a right to feel the sun on my face and insisting the setting sun is depriving me of my rights. Life is a temporary state of being. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Isn't Terri theoretically better off leaving this mortal coil and a meaningless existence and being with her God and her loved ones already passed on? The actions of the religious groups seem to indicate they don't really believe what they preach.
One friend suggested that Life is a gift from God and man is not allowed to take it away. Terri had a heart attack that has left her unable to care for herself and feed herself. In the days before IV drip, the matter would have been settled a few weeks after the heart attack. Just because we can do a thing does not mean that we should. How exactly is man taking away Terri's life here? Are we not intervening to thwart "God's will" that Terri's time on this world be over? Is it only an act of God when we like the outcome? There are senseless tragedies all over the world every day. People console themselves with platitudes such as, "God has called him home." or "The Lord moves in mysterious ways." If the heart attack had killed Terri outright, I'm sure such things would have been said over and over. How do we know that God hasn't called Terri home and she's pissed off her family won't let her go?
I have a hard time understanding how anyone can say keeping Terri alive artificially through modern medicine constitutes saving her life. It's been 15 years, people. Even if she regained some form of consciousness, what kind of life would that be? People are constantly saying, "We must assume Terri would want to live." How can you make such a stupid assumption? Would you want to? To me it seems a selfish desire to not let go of a life long ago lost, like a child who refuses to relinquish a cherished doll even though all the hair has fallen out, the arms are coming off and stuffing is leaking from burst seams. Why has there been no discussion of personal dignity here?
This is a personal tragedy, no matter how you slice it. It is a decision I hope never to have to face. If it ever comes to that, I'm pretty sure I want the world to butt out and let me and my family wrestle with it. I could not even begin to care less what Congress ( or Mel Gibson for that matter ) thinks I should do. I, for one, have a living will that states I do not wish my life to be prolonged by artificial means. If I were Terri, I would absolutely not want to "live." The water gets a little muddier if it were one of my daughters in a vegetative state. It is extremely uncomfortable for me to even ponder that situation. I would hope at some point I would be able to let go of the hope that my daughter return to me, that I would be able to think more of her and her dignity and allowing her to move on than of my own selfish need to have her near me.