Posted on 03/25/2005 5:21:18 AM PST by mhking
My position on the Schiavo matter has vascilated back and forth over the past few days as I've agonized over the matter.
Should she be given a chance at life? If so, what kind of life are we talking about? Is there a chance at rehabilitation? Is Michael Schiavo an evil S.O.B., or is he simply a heart-broken man?
Conversely, is she truly in a vegetative state? A virtual zombie with eyes open, and nothing inside? Are her parents and family in denial about her pain and suffering? Are the evangelicals coming to her aid getting so worked up that they are looking past the true nature of this situation?
Difficult questions these. Who wins? Who loses?
There is no winner here. This situation is heartbreaking at the core. A vibrant woman struck down in the prime of her life. A myriad of doctors, most of whom have indicated that much of her brain tissue has deteriorated and possibly even liquified inside her skull. CAT scans that support that diagnosis.
Conversely, we see her eyes focusing on a balloon, we see her apparently responding to people entering her limited field of vision.
What do we believe?
After 22 different judges have agonized over this, they all have come to the same decision: that her husband has the right to make that agonizing decision.
Talk show host Neil Boortz has taken the stance that Terri Schiavo has earned her place in heaven, and that we, as a people, should let her go home.
Do you believe in God’s promise of everlasting life? Do you believe that the reward for a life well spent on this earth is a life with God in heaven after you die? If you do, then a few more questions if you will.Jesus awaits Terri Schiavo at the gates of heaven with open arms. He will grant her eternal rest. He loves all, no matter which side of this sad story the people are on.Do you believe that the human soul can make the transition to everlasting life while the human body that carried that soul through life clings to life on this earth? If you do, then you must surely believe that Terri Schiavo has earned and is already enjoying her reward in heaven. That being the case, why is it so important to you that the now-unneeded body of Terri Schiavo is kept alive?
But perhaps you believe, as I do, that the human soul is so connected to and integrated with its earthly body that any transition will not be made until that body ceases functioning -- until death occurs.. That being the case, why do you so ardently desire that the soul of Terri Schiavo spend five, ten, perhaps 30 years or more trapped in a useless and non-functioning body, unable to move on to whatever reward awaits her? Isn’t 15 years enough?
Where do your concerns truly lie, with the eternal soul of Terri Schiavo, or with her earthly body?
Let her go home. We can only commend her spirit among the angels for the journey.
Sadly, those who damn the judges and politicians and those of us who wish her spirit to move on are going to fracture the fragile fabric of the conservative wing of the GOP. In their zeal to ignore the rule of law and the Constitutional process, they are sliding down the slippery slope of anarchy toward mob rule.
This is a land of laws, not men. And the political problems that are surfacing -- on both sides -- point toward the deterioration of our constitutional republic. Are you ready for that? Are you ready for that will mean in the future?
I weep for Terri Schiavo today. But I fear for more tears in our future, thanks to those who would wad up the Constitutional protections and freedoms wrought by the notion of ignoring the rule of law, simply because those in power didn't get their way.
It is so clear to me as well that this is not a natural death, for in a natural death, after the tube was removed, someone would be attempting to feed her and give her drink orally.
And if she could not survive that natural way, she would naturally die.
I hear today the voice of Christ saying, "I thirst." I don't say that it any cheap melodramatic way. I seriously am confronted with the voice of my crucified, innocent Savior on the cross asking for a simple drink of water. Terri Schiavo makes that voice of the Savior so much more real. She makes my sin so much more real.
And I have elected those who have placed in power and in law the men and laws that have denied her a natural death.
I have seen one order by a judge forbidding food and drink, and I'm told that that was actually not ruled on there, but was ruled on elsewhere. I've been told that no judge would order the forcible cessation of natural food and water.
But it is being denied her, and no one is stopping it. If not the judge himself, then he has untied the hands of the criminal who is enforcing it. He is sanctioning it, and he is not ordering it stopped. He is not offering that someone go with a glass of water to the thirty one who is dying.
How shall we live with such guilt on this nation? That we would not attempt naturally to care for her, means that we are murdering her.
Murder.
Blood is on our hands, my friends.
The judge is wrong. It's in writing (albeit in "may" terms, not "shall"). Too bad he decided to ignore the written law in this case, as he followed it years ago in the "guardian has rights" case.
The only trouble w/that law is apparently, DCF/exec would *after the fact* have to ask permission to proceed, 24 hrs after seizing the person "in harm's way". So ultimately they'd probably still be screwed.
I don't know what you do for a living but I bet you would make a fortune working as an insurance lobbyist.
Nope I don't. Nor do I think an injury should suffice to wish someone was dead either.
ping to #362
I've been thinking the same thing. All these judges should start fearing they will rot in Hell. (Evidently it hasn't entered their minds yet.)
"The Lord is calling her Home."
That's so sweet. I'm having a Hallmark moment.
Just like the Lord called lots of people home under Saddam Hussein.
I find it dangerously absurd that you don't look at those of us who are less than perfectly healthy and see future victims of starvation. Have you ever read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich? Are you familiar, at all, with the most recent 30 or so years of Dutch history?
Do you think anyone back in 1973 envisioned the Roe v decision resulting in one million deaths a year?
Incrementalism. You may be willing to take that first step. I am digging my heels in.
Spare me the hypocrisy.
bravo!!
Well, there's the obvious offenses against decency, for starters, as well as the many miscarriages of law. You can find all the objections laid out on the many many threads here already.
Spoken like a true member of the bar.
Do you think that Jesus will welcome MICHAEL SCHIAVO with open arms if he died this week?? If not....why not......I think you know why.
Judge Geer is now KING of AMERICA...more powerful than Congress and the President. SCARY.
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