If I can be serious for a moment, I’d like to talk about Terri Schiavo and the controversy around the whole incident. There’s a lot of anger as the issue seems stark to many, and I think Michael Schiavo has the potential to be the next O.J. Simpson in the way he’s shunned by much of society.
As for the starvation issue, Bill Quick recently lost his father and writes about how he died here. That incident certainly is different in how his father chose not to eat himself, but it is some more firsthand information on whether starvation really is a horrible death.
As for myself, I think my feelings on the issue are affected by my grandfather who suffered from Alzheimer’s. He first was diagnosed when I was quite young – maybe five – and didn’t pass away until I was 21. For at least the last decade, he couldn’t communicate at all and was confined to constant care in a nursing home. This didn’t stop my grandmother and my mother from visiting a number of times each week often with us grandchildren coming along. During college, I made it a point each time I came home to visit my grandfather.
He died during finals week, and I wasn’t able to make it to the funeral. I didn’t see the need, anyway, as it shouldn’t have been sad; his mind died many years ago. It should have been a relief. Yet, his actual death ended up hitting me hard, making me face what I really lost. I can only imagine what it was like for those who knew him longer such as his children and his wife.
I’m probably meandering; there’s a lot of emotion here and it’s hard to come to some exact point. I just know I have sympathy for the parents because as long as their daughter still lives, at least she’s still… there. I frame the issue this way: if she is in a PVS, then it matters not to her if she’s still living and thus giving comfort to her parents. If she isn’t, then it’s murder to kill her. Michael Schiavo may have the legal standing to kill Terri, but he doesn’t have a moral leg to stand on from what I see. If the parents are willing to take the burden of caring for her, why deny that to them? If he so believes she’s in a PVS, then why would it matter to her if she still lives? I don’t know his true motives, but it does seem quite callous. Perhaps I’m missing something.
And I’m tired of talk about the politics involved here. Maybe I’m not being cynical enough, but I think people like Jeb Bush see Terri’s starvation as a life being unjustly taken, and, when life is at stake, isn’t it always laws be damned? Should anyone ever die to preserve the principle of checks and balances? This is no end of federalism or the judiciary, it’s just human nature reacting to one extreme situation.
Well, I think that’s all I wanted to say. Certainly have your own say in the comments.