Commencement
Pope John Paul II lays dead or dying at the Vatican -- depending on who's reporting his condition -- fed through a tube. Here in Florida, Terri Schiavo died yesterday. She withered away after her feeding tube came out by court order.
To begin, I write about endings. The Schiavo case brought us talk about the right to life. Never mind that her case really focused on money. Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, never forgave her husband Michael for not sharing the settlement he won from doctors treating Terri.
The heat of one family's drama made Terri Schiavo a national cause celebre for causes she might never have abided. Who was she to argue when the usual suspects lined up to advance their agendas using her name? Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and countless sign bearing crackpots all camped, literally or figuratively, on the lawn of the Pinellas Park, Florida hospice where she lived.
They came to protect Terri's right to life, they said. Forget that seven years of litigation had determined that if a persistent vegetative state was all the right to life she had, she didn't want it. Who says we have a right to life? Who guarantees it? If we have this so inviolable right to life, why do we die? Why are there accidents, diseases or deformities that kill people prematurely?
We're in denial about death. We treat it like it's this freakishly unnatural thing that no one should ever suffer when it's the only life event that every single one of us on the planet will someday have in common. We celebrate people who cheat death. They beat cancer, we say. Hooray! But they didn't change the outcome. They only delayed it.
We don't have a right to life. It can end at any time. And it will end sometime. That doesn't make it easier if you or someone you love is staring it in the face. We need to erase this idea that we have to squeeze every last breath from our bodies, even when it's the only thing left we can do. We credit people's strength and courage if they survive cancer. That doesn't make the people it kills weaklings or cowards.
Part of life is facing its end. For us and those we love. Terri Schiavo died in 1990 when her heart stopped and starved her brain of oxygen, not this week when her body failed from lack of food or water. It is natural for us to want to hang on to whatever part of a person is left after a devastating illness like hers. There comes a point at which we hang on for our sake not theirs. It's not compassion any more; it's selfish.
When Terri Schiavo left, it was long past the time to let her go.
To begin, I write about endings. The Schiavo case brought us talk about the right to life. Never mind that her case really focused on money. Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, never forgave her husband Michael for not sharing the settlement he won from doctors treating Terri.
The heat of one family's drama made Terri Schiavo a national cause celebre for causes she might never have abided. Who was she to argue when the usual suspects lined up to advance their agendas using her name? Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, Jesse Jackson, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and countless sign bearing crackpots all camped, literally or figuratively, on the lawn of the Pinellas Park, Florida hospice where she lived.
They came to protect Terri's right to life, they said. Forget that seven years of litigation had determined that if a persistent vegetative state was all the right to life she had, she didn't want it. Who says we have a right to life? Who guarantees it? If we have this so inviolable right to life, why do we die? Why are there accidents, diseases or deformities that kill people prematurely?
We're in denial about death. We treat it like it's this freakishly unnatural thing that no one should ever suffer when it's the only life event that every single one of us on the planet will someday have in common. We celebrate people who cheat death. They beat cancer, we say. Hooray! But they didn't change the outcome. They only delayed it.
We don't have a right to life. It can end at any time. And it will end sometime. That doesn't make it easier if you or someone you love is staring it in the face. We need to erase this idea that we have to squeeze every last breath from our bodies, even when it's the only thing left we can do. We credit people's strength and courage if they survive cancer. That doesn't make the people it kills weaklings or cowards.
Part of life is facing its end. For us and those we love. Terri Schiavo died in 1990 when her heart stopped and starved her brain of oxygen, not this week when her body failed from lack of food or water. It is natural for us to want to hang on to whatever part of a person is left after a devastating illness like hers. There comes a point at which we hang on for our sake not theirs. It's not compassion any more; it's selfish.
When Terri Schiavo left, it was long past the time to let her go.
posted by jack at 11:53 PM
3 Comments:
So Life is not a right-- it's a privilage... sounds about right, so we should enjoy as much as we can...
Yep. For as long as we can. And we should accept that someday it's going to end.
In theory I agree. When your brain is dead, so are you., When you've become a 'vegetable' assuming she really didn't have a clue what was going on around her, then I would think it's time to go.
But there is a certain difference between that, and wanting to live as much as you can, as long as you can. A cure for cancer - great. You'll get to live longer but don't just say "it only delayed the outcome".
We're all going to die, of course we are. But that doesn't mean it's the same to die when you're 6, 36 or 86. Most of us want to grow old. But not too old. We know we'll die, we just don't want to do it today.
Pulling the plug (or tube as it were) after 14 years, is far from the same as saying "Medicine? No thank you. I'm going to die some day anyway, might just as well be today."
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