GOOD FRIDAY
I hadn't actually realized what day it is until just now when the church bells right outside my apartment began ringing. It's a low-toned, slow-paced, dirge like sound at 9:30 pm, when the bells never ring. I know that it must commemorate either Jesus' slow and agonizing walk to the cross, or the moment of his death. It's a sad and lonely sound and the moment it began I was reminded of the importance of this weekend.
It is rather ironic that Terri Schiavo is dying on this night as well. This has been a couple of weeks of sad and utterly disturbing series of events surrounding this woman. The poor woman, for all intents and purposes, died 15 years ago when her heart stopped beating. When her heart resumed beating with help from paramedics, she was in what six or seven neurologists have said is a permanent vegetative state. She was breathing on her own, but had no other ability to care for herself and a feeding tube was inserted in her abdomen. The human heart can also beat on it's own for a period of time after it is totally separated from a body. A chicken will still flop on the ground after its head is wrung. Doctors say that any movement or apparent consciousness she has is primal and without intention. Her brain is filled with liquid which is spinal fluid. The husband, after 8 years, decided to remove the feeding tube and Terri's parents fought him. The parents should never have been given standing, because the husband is the next of kin. It has now been in the courts for 7 years and they finally removed the feeding tube seven days ago.
I have been sickened by the way her parents have exploited her and shown video tapes of her all over the world in order to gain support, removing any dignity Terri had. I understand their love for their daughter, but denial of reality is not love, and they are merely selfish. More disgusting is the way she has become a political football. The Christian fanatics on the far right have butted into this and actually told the governor of the state, Jeb Bush, that they will withdraw support from him if he doesn't break the law and go in and kidnap Terri. The same people who are hysterical about saving Terri's life, have threatened her husband's life and lied about him, calling him a murderer. These people who are so eager to save Terri are the same ones who shout with joy outside a penitentiary when a man or woman is executed. They are the same ones who murder abortion doctors.
Fifty years ago, before the technology was developed, she would have died in a very natural way 15 years ago. Removing food and water from her is no worse and no different than pulling the plug on a respirator. Feeding tubes and respirators are both removed by the hundreds each and every day all over this country. We should be as kind to Terri. The Christians should show their faith in God and Terri's ultimate protection by staying out of a personal, private decision. My heart breaks for Terri, as much for displaying her death so publicly, as for the death itself. But it is time to let this poor soul die and go to a better place.
It is rather ironic that Terri Schiavo is dying on this night as well. This has been a couple of weeks of sad and utterly disturbing series of events surrounding this woman. The poor woman, for all intents and purposes, died 15 years ago when her heart stopped beating. When her heart resumed beating with help from paramedics, she was in what six or seven neurologists have said is a permanent vegetative state. She was breathing on her own, but had no other ability to care for herself and a feeding tube was inserted in her abdomen. The human heart can also beat on it's own for a period of time after it is totally separated from a body. A chicken will still flop on the ground after its head is wrung. Doctors say that any movement or apparent consciousness she has is primal and without intention. Her brain is filled with liquid which is spinal fluid. The husband, after 8 years, decided to remove the feeding tube and Terri's parents fought him. The parents should never have been given standing, because the husband is the next of kin. It has now been in the courts for 7 years and they finally removed the feeding tube seven days ago.
I have been sickened by the way her parents have exploited her and shown video tapes of her all over the world in order to gain support, removing any dignity Terri had. I understand their love for their daughter, but denial of reality is not love, and they are merely selfish. More disgusting is the way she has become a political football. The Christian fanatics on the far right have butted into this and actually told the governor of the state, Jeb Bush, that they will withdraw support from him if he doesn't break the law and go in and kidnap Terri. The same people who are hysterical about saving Terri's life, have threatened her husband's life and lied about him, calling him a murderer. These people who are so eager to save Terri are the same ones who shout with joy outside a penitentiary when a man or woman is executed. They are the same ones who murder abortion doctors.
Fifty years ago, before the technology was developed, she would have died in a very natural way 15 years ago. Removing food and water from her is no worse and no different than pulling the plug on a respirator. Feeding tubes and respirators are both removed by the hundreds each and every day all over this country. We should be as kind to Terri. The Christians should show their faith in God and Terri's ultimate protection by staying out of a personal, private decision. My heart breaks for Terri, as much for displaying her death so publicly, as for the death itself. But it is time to let this poor soul die and go to a better place.
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