God Weighs In

As seen on CNN:

"It isn't about what Terri wants. It's about what God wants." - Random lady in the crowd outside Terri's hospice.

That has to be the least rational reason I've heard yet for supporting Terri Schiavo's parents.

So if I'm in a vegetative state and I've said in a written will that I'd like to expire naturally, then this lady would have me kept "alive" because of what she says God wants? Terri didn't have a written will, no, but according to this lady's reasoning, it wouldn't matter if she had. Now, I do think her opinion is an extreme one, not likely typical of many supporting the Schindlers; nonetheless, it's just another example of why this case has become an important one. Who should make these utterly personal decisions about your life? You? Your spouse? Your family? Or some segment of society, based upon their unsupportable conception of God's wishes?

Sad as Terri's situation is, for her parents, for her husband, I hope her circumstances at least provide an opportunity for us to come to grips with some of the irrational and fearful thinking about death so prevalent in our culture.

As of this writing, the Schindlers appear to be the end of their battle. I truly hope that one day they will come to accept that Terri's condition was almost* definitely irreversible, so that they won't live the remainder of their lives bitterly. After 15 years of fighting, I understand that that may be too much to expect.


*I honestly believe I could remove that word "almost," but that would raise the question of my certainty, which isn't the subject I'm attending to here. In short, no, I haven't examined Terri and neither have most of the people commenting on her, but I do think that enough evidence exists out there--if you compare the detailed testimonies of those on both sides, and examine who appears to be ignoring (with calculation or not) what information--to determine that the conscious person known as Terri has long been gone and will never return. That's my strongly held opinion, which I could elaborate upon at length, but this topic is so divisive, that I'm not sure what purpose it'd serve to do so here--especially since so much else has been written elsewhere.