Fate of Terri Schiavo Rests With Judge (AP). AP - The parents of Terri Schiavo asked a judge to reinsert the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube Monday, following an extraordinary, daylong political fight that consumed both chambers of Congress and prompted the president to rush back to the White House. [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]
On the front page of every major news paper in the nation this morning is a headline something akin to Emergency Vote on Schiavo.
Whether or not you agree, regardless of your moral upbringing or which side of the political aisle you stand on, this should make your blood boil. If you have not figured it out yet, I am not a god fearing individual. Frankly, the Bible is nothing more than quaint poetry and some interesting oral histories from one particular point of view. It is not a document that I would want to live my life by, although there are some interesting things in it that make a certain amount of sense.
That being said, I do consider myself a moral individual with a fair ethical compass. The plight of Mrs. Schiavo is unfortunate, and pathetic.
Let us review for the people in the cheap seats. Mrs. Schiavo suffered what is described as a chemical imbalance induced heart failure. This deprived her brain of oxygen. Whether or not you belive in creationism or the scientific theory of Darwinism, one fact remains, the human brain must have oxygen to survive or it ceases to function. This is what has happened. Mrs. Schiavo is in what is called a persistent vegetative state. She has no more intellect, as we mere mortals define it, than a simple organism, but because her heart is still beating, she is technically alive by one definition. According to her husband, who is her legal guardian by marriage (which introduces a whole interesting spectre when you get around to same-sex marriage, but I digress) has said that she indicated that she did not wish to remain alive if this sort of thing should happen to her. Her parents, grieving over the loss of their daughter, claim that her husband is nuts (at least) after a million-dollar malpractice award (which is gone in legal fees) and that they have been told their daughter could recover (buy a lottery ticket, your odds are better).
Enter the United States government, currently lead by the Catholic Right (you should note two things. One, that Catholic is Roman Catholic, because that is the biggest voting block at the moment, and two, that any Catholic that has a functioning brain in their head should recognize the words of another famous Catholic who said I think, therefore I am. I will get to the spiritual issues in a moment). Now, if you think for a moment that the intervention of the United States government is in any way a positive thing to preserve life, think again. From the Washington Post Express:
[The Republicans are accused] of ramming through constitutionally questionable legislation to satisfy the agenda of their conservative allies.
I would not be so charitable, it is a fact, not an accusation.
Now, back to the spiritual issue. If being in Heaven is a better place, as the platitude goes, would any right thinking individual want the very best for their loved one who had no other options? This is not an issue of murder as they would have us believe. Unfortunately, we will never know. We cannot currently communicate telepathically with individuals. We will never know if the essence that makes Terri, Terri is trapped in a non-functioning brain, or if it has truly left the building. If you are a spiritualist, you will deduce that the soul (spirt, what have you) is trapped in a living body, unable to take nourishment or perform any of the basic animalistic functions that we define as life.
These sorts of decisions are made everyday, and every one of them is heart wrenching. I would not trade places with Mr. Schiavo for anything. He is not a monster, regardless of what you might think. He has moved on from what he knows is a lost battle - that battle that he will get back the woman he knew as Terri who he shared a life with. In some regards, that was all he could do. It is time for her parents to do the same thing and for the government of the United States to get back to fixing the real problems that affect us all.
9:25:48 AM 
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