Let her go…

I have been fighting the urge to comment on the Terri Schiavo story that has been front and center in the news for the last 10 days or so. But, hey, if Jesse Jackson can show up and throw his hat into the ring, then it must not be too late…
Bottom line: She should be allowed to die. It is, according to her husband, what she wanted. And, the courts have been right all along in either staying out of it or backing the husband. According to polls, most people agree. They are also ticked off that the government has tried to intervene, which they shouldn’t have. This MSNBC story echos a lot of my thoughts about the situation.
The thing that gets me in these situations are those wacky ‘right-to-lifers’ who will chuck just about anything aside for the ‘sanctity’ of life. Remember, these are the same folks who have been freaking out and preaching about the ‘sanctity’ of marriage while protesting the concept of gay marriage. In this case, they’re willing to chuck all that marriage stuff aside in order to preserve life. They want the government, any government, to intervene, even though they don’t realize that doing so tramples on the rights of the individual.
I’m not saying this is an easy subject. Heck, even the Catholic church is divided on the subject, which is very scary considering there is news about inserting a feeding tube in the Pope. Granted, the situation is significantly different when you have a person whose mind is sharp and whose body is failing him. But, what if, God forbid, he has a stroke/heart attack/whatever that puts him in the same state as Shiavo. And you thought the press over the Schiavo case was crazy…
But, in my opinion the ‘right-to-lifers’ have an ulterior motive in all this. If they can ever get the government to take the bait and pass some sort of legislation that would preserve life at all costs, then they have leverage to push for legislation on their other favorite topic — abortion.
Fortunately, if that ever happened, the courts would eventually strike it down. Florida has already tried to interfere with the Schiavo case. In one case the law was passed and struck down by the courts. And the second attempt last week never got past the state senate.
Here’s the question for those of you still in favor of putting that tube back in her. If you were in the same situation, would you want to live like that? If you said no, and if you’ve even gone so far as to take steps to ensure that this situation would not happen to you (like set up a living will — which, by the way, may or may not help you), then, why on earth would you think it is okay to put another human being through that?
Part of the Christian doctrine is about life, but it’s also about compassion for your fellow man. Who are you really being compassionate for? The woman who’s been living in a persistent-vegetative state for 15 years? Or, the parents/family who simply won’t let go?

One Reply to “Let her go…”

  1. Couldn’t have said it better myself. The parents of this woman just need to let her go so they can finally grieve. Imagine how much healing they could have had at this point if they had just let her go once the extent of the brain damage was uncovered.

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