Posted on 03/24/2005 6:55:06 PM PST by MrBallroom
ENDING THE MADNESS
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher
March 25, 2005
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Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has once again justifiably rejected the pathetic puppy-dog pleas of Bob and Mary Schindler (right) to have the feeding tube of their daughter Terri Schiavo reinserted, they need to just let go and let their daughter slip away from this life into the next. As it stands, Terri is faced with two kinds of unspeakable agony; one, being wilting away from lack of food and water, and the other being indefinitely trapped in a body that has in fact become a prison for her soul.
In the middle of all this, we have a number of players - all of whom are to blame for the situation - who had no right to get involved in what was supposed to be a private family matter. If anything, it was supposed to be a private disagreement between Terri's husband Michael and her parents Bob and Mary Schindler, the latter of who took their tiff national with the news media by releasing a videotape of their daughter in her vegetative state, which I found repulsive to the extreme. While I may have colleagues who have totally opposite views on this issue - which I respect - I must disagree with the extreme measures being taken at this point to keep America's "Cabbage Patch Girl" alive.
For openers, as a rule of law, Bob and Mary Schindler have no right whatsoever to be filing any legal actions on their daughter's behalf - period. Whether it be Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck or any other nationally syndicated talk show host, news pundit or anyone else, Terri's parents do not have any legal standing to act in their daughter's behalf, and that is why they have lost at every level in the court system and it is also why the Supreme Court has refused not only once, but twice to hear their appeals and their desperate, pathetic cries for help.
Before anyone goes and calls me heartless - or worse - keep in mind that if the tables were turned and it was me in that hospice, I would want to be allowed to die rather than be in a persistent vegetative state with severe irreversible brain damage. Wishful thinking on the part of Terri's parents and others will not change that, and there is more than enough blame to go around on this national disgrace.
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For openers, Bob and Mary Schindler lead the list for releasing the videotape nationally, thus stripping their daughter of her remaining dignity and turning her into a national freak show the likes of such I was expecting Sally Jessy Raphael to appear at any moment, what with all the do-gooders getting themselves arrested trying to bring Terri water. What type of point were they trying to prove? Then there is Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo (left). While he may have had his appropriate mourning period at losing the Terri he loved and married to this vegetative state, rather than divorcing her and letting her parents take over her care as he should have, he had a woman move in with him and has had two children by this other woman, thus becoming an adulterer and winning him no sympathy in the process. As a result, his credibility is largely shot to pieces on this as well as on other grounds.
Add to the list both houses of the United States Congress - who in their perpetual pursuit of the Congressional circle jerk - held nationally televised debate in an 'emergency session' to make themselves (a); look good, and (b); look as if they were doing something which they knew would go nowhere. All of this was done in a classic case of ego masturbation and free face time on network television in pursuit of a reelection victory in next year's midterms. To make matters worse, President Bush gets in on the act by signing off on this legislation which is a direct repudiation of legislation he signed as Texas Governor that went in the opposite direction. Lastly and finally, Terri Schiavo is herself to blame for her current predicament, for had she obtained medical help for her bulimia, and not continued her binging and purging, the heart attack and subsequent heart stoppage and attendant brain damage would have never occurred.
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Most people looking at this situation fail to realize that in this case the tragedy was entirely preventable. They - especially the Schindlers - also fail to realize that Terri stopped being the Terri Schiavo they knew and loved (left) when she suffered her brain damage and became a shell of what she once was (right). As much as it may hurt to let her go and slip gradually from this life into the next, it needs to occur sooner rather than later. In so doing, the Schindlers will come to see what Michael Schiavo probably already knows - that an end to this current suffering will free her from the pain and torment that has racked her body and what is left of her brain for over 15 years. It will also bring to an end the Schindler family's suffering as well. Nobody wins in this situation. Not Michael Schiavo, not Bob and Mary Schindler and their other children, not the nation as a whole that has had to witness and endure this tragedy, and most importantly, not Terri.
It is time for her prolonged suffering to end. If we as a nation can learn anything from this, it is to follow the example former President Richard Nixon set when he had the stroke in 1994 that led to his death a week later. Nixon had an advance directive filled out specifying no extraordinary measures were to be taken to either save or prolong his life, and had a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) tag placed on his chart. By making such a decision - in advance - he saved his bickering daughters Julie and Trisha, who have not spoken to each other in years, from what would have been an inevitable national sideshow much like this one. ***
© 2005 Timothy Rollins
EDITOR'S UPDATE: Since this article went to press, Governor Jeb Bush (R-Florida) has failed in his emergency bid for the state to win custody of Terri, thus effectively bringing the battle to keep Terri alive to an end. The Schindlers are seeking a restraining order in federal court in hopes of keeping their daughter alive a little longer; however, in light of their 0-4 track record in the federal court system, not to mention their complete failure to win any petitions in state court, about all they can do at this point is prepare to say their goodbyes to Terri and let her go.***
COPYRIGHT © 2005 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN
All writers retain rights to their work.
The term 'ego masturbation' fits Congress perfectly, as all they do is preen and peacock for the cameras in the hope of free face time on the TV cameras in pursuit of continued incumbency. For most of them, term limits are a very good thing!
My condolences about your sister. My mother was in this shape and I was left power of Attorney. I was glad she made her wishes known. It was hard for my grandma to say good bye but she knew. I am only 34 but I had have my wishes known for a long time. I was lucky to say good bye to her but I gather the Schindlers never got to. I just think the husband is a piece of work and I do hope his future wife is taking notes, she will need them. Were your parents alive when your sister passed on? Again, my condolences:(.
No bias with this 'puppy dog' eh?
come and see the man of balls.
I never cited the government as having the final say in whether Terri lives or dies. I am sensitive enough to realize that God - in his miraculous and mysterious ways - can restore a severely ill or injured person to perfect health, provided it is HIS will.
All too often, we ask God in prayer for what we think is best, and then we immediately answer our own prayers instead of listening for that still, small voice within us - those spiritual promptings that are a reassurance from a loving Father in Heaven that things will go one way or the other.
It is important that God hears and answers each and every prayer; sometimes however, that answer is NO, and in times like that, we need to have greater faith so that we can understand HIS will and see the larger picture that He does, so that His purposes can be fulfilled.
In the end, God will be the final arbiter as to whether Terri lives or dies, not the state or Federal courts in Florida and Atlanta.
See my subsequent statement of my opinion on Michael. He's a weasel who should have divorced her so her parents could have been her primary caregivers.
If we use Timothy's standards of "repulsive to the extreme" and ,,[her] "suffering" then Timmy satisfies all the requirements to be given the same fate. Of course He may not be found guilty of not having written a 'living will', but I am sure that we could find him guilty of some other minor infraction and therefore deserving of punitive treatment, like the loss of the right to life.
I agree, I don't trust that husband either. He should have divorced her and let her loving parents take care of her. Since he didn't, he's the only one who can legally make decisions for her...that's why the parents keep losing in the courts. They have the moral high ground, but have no legal standing. Such a sad shame, but this is a country based on the rule of law first and foremost.
Agreed. Michael just had dollar signs in his eyes. I just wonder how that fiancee can think nothing of this. If she was in that boat, this is like a sneak peak. The parents are more than willing to take care of her.
Mom died in 1987, so she was spared, but Dad - who died in 1998 - was live at the time it happened, and it destroyed him. The toughest thing was it really messed three of her five children up, and that was the greater tragedy in some senses. Had she seen some of the things those three did, THAT would have killed her.
His writing was most definitely "repulsive to the extreme".
He probably drove her to bulimia. I mentioned in an earlier post, she was pretty. She didn't need to change a thing. I feel for the family. If I was Mr. Schiavo, I would watch my back.
Her wedding picture was beautiful! The real tragedy was that this bulimia was preventable had society not compelled so many adult women into thinking that physical perfection comes from the bodies of 14 and 15-year-old GIRLS on the cover of fashion magazines like VOGUE and the like.
Utah Girl, is this article representative of the Mormon opinion on the Terry Schiavo case?
Could you ping the Mormon list, please?
Very true... but he also expects us to take care of the least of our brothers and sisters, regardless...
His will is not to have us destroy the innocent. That is what is happening here.
To deprive someone of food and water is not what God intended us to do to each other. This is murder, plain and simple.
Sometimes our prayers may not be answered the way that we want. (I know this more than you'll ever know...) But remember, how we treat each other is what the dear Lord commands of us.
right now we are about to cast aside the weak and helpless. You may not see the value in her, but believe me, the miracle of God is very much present within her.
You can'thave it both ways, Timmy.
You are a woeful debater.
I hope if there is a young girl with bulimia she might come across this. There was ways to lose weight without this. I didn't catch if laxatives or vomiting was the main thing. I want to cry when I see her in the hospice.
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