[tutstar]

Hey Destro, be sure to write this school and let them know that the parents of these kids ought to let them pass on....

Local Students Reach Out to Terri Schiavo

By Chris Mitchell (cmitchell@wmbb.com) News 13 On Your Side Joshua Farver and his teacher Susan Perry display the card they made to be sent to Terri Schiavo...

Panama City, FL - Students from Margaret K. Lewis School in Panama City are reaching out to Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman in Pinellas Park whose feeding tube was recently removed for six days so she would die. While court battles continue between Terri's parents (who want her to live) and Terri's husband (who wants her to die), Panama City students want Terri to know they care.

Dozens of special needs students learned they could send birthday wishes to Terri who will turn 40 on December 3. Several students needed help from teachers and assistants to draw their cards and sign their names. Many are being fed the same way as Terri.

"So many of these children are children with feeding tubes," says Susan Perry who works at the school. "They are human beings just like Terri. They want her to understand they know what she's going through, and if their feeding tubes were taken away from them they would go hungry. They just want to wish her a very happy birthday," says Perry.

Students at Margaret K. Lewis School are not the only ones getting involved in Terri's fight. Clients at St. Andrew Bay Center in Lynn Haven are also making birthday cards. The Center serves adults with disabilities. Over 100 cards from both schools are being collected and hand-delivered to Terri's parents Saturday.

Birthday cards are some of the few things Terri is allowed to see in her hospice room where she's been for several years. According to Terrisfight.org, the official website of Terri's family fighting to keep her alive, Terri's husband does not permit her to have flowers in her room. However, her parents are allowed to take her cards and other gifts while court battles continue.

Birthday greetings can be sent to The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, 4615 Gulf Boulevard, #104-103, St. Petersburg Beach, Florida 33706. For more information, go to Terrisfight.org.

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[Destro]

Why do you assume I mean people who have cognitive disability?? Why is the case of Terri Schiavo being brought uo to me when I never mentioned her? To insert a specific example to take down my short and generalized thoughts on the subject is not fair to me. Makes me look like I am some euthanasia - abortion loving monster and I am not.

Of course my statement looks harsh in specific cases but my statement was a brief thought and generalized.

To be fair the internet chat forum has a way of turning words and making them sound "mean and arrogant" that is because conversational language for humans also goes hand in hand with voice inflections and physical postures as we speak. I can not read emotions behind posted words - few can - that is why many add on >>sarcasm<< and other hint words when they want to make their harsh words read in their proper context. I was just having a discussion as if we were in the local coffee house or tavern where people gather to talk over issues. No deep empotion involved. Readind this article and others after my posts I must say the Pope's words were not full enough to set a standard. In what cases? What circumstances? What are Catholic hospitals to do in such cases?

I welcome the Pope's initiative in this and I hope he empowers a panel of his Church's fathers to come up with guidelines on what to do in such cases and when to do it.

A few sentences on the matter does little to help but it is a step in the right direction.