Posted on 03/14/2006 11:28:51 AM PST by KevinNuPac
Terri's Day challenges the nation to unify
Kevin Fobbs
March 13, 2006
Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life honoring Terri Schiavo with a day of remembrance challenges each and every one of us to stop for a moment and ask ourselves a question, do we respect ourselves, our families, our lives?
And if we are faced with the question of the possible certainty of death, does anyone truly know, or even have the faintest clue about, our wishes? That is the greatest good, the greatest legacy that Terri Schiavo's death and an annual "Terri's Day" can bring to our lives and to the celebration of the Culture of Life.
On March 18th, we as a nation will begin to grieve again, to reach into our hearts and feel with our collective national spirit what the Schindler family felt last year at this time as each moment since Terri was disconnected from the feeding lifeline, the moments crept by like hours and hours like days.
All of us have felt in some way that pain — even if it were only in the privacy of our loved one's home, hospital room, hospice or perhaps talking with an attorney and doctor attempting to make sense out of some fleeting comments made in a conversation perhaps voiced ten, twelve or even two decades earlier — not necessarily an expression of her true feeling about an end-of-life decision but merely an incidental musing in a long-forgotten side conversation.
For at least one million Americans, and quite possibly a whole lot more, this is an opportunity to voice an opinion through a pledge supporting a resolution in each state called "Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life." Each and every person who cares that your family, your spouse, your mother, your father, your sister or brother understands with clarity what you wish the end of life for you to be, with dignity and certainty should sign the online pledge at www.kevinfobbs.com and take the additional step to sign a Living Will — or as they call it at www.terrisfight.org, the Will to Live.
Some have asked why Americans should care about an annual Terri's Day. It is quite simple, we tend to keep turning the page on the Culture of Life because we feel it does not affect us. We tend to believe that seemingly universal belief that those who are handicapped, those who are not quite living a "perfect" life or by contemporary notion "ideal" then those lives are possibly disposable, marginal, not relevant, and part of the Culture of Death which embraces a "disposable society."
But life and our values for the Culture of Life are not disposable. Think about the young people today who would rather hurt themselves or even take their own lives rather than feel "imperfect" or the elderly person whose family is told by an insensitive health care professional while the stricken person struggles to cling to life, "she would be better off in another place," — just let her die, disconnect her from life, because her quality of life is not up to "contemporary standards. "
Why does celebrating the Culture of Life in Michigan become so essential for all of us in America? It is important for several reasons. Dr. Jack Kervorkian, also known as "Doctor Death" helped launch first in Michigan and then the nation the notion of the death culture. Secondly, and equally as important, at the May 12 event — just two days before Mother's Day — there will also be a "Mary's Moms" celebration of those women and mothers who have met challenges in standing up for some aspect of the Culture of Life.
This past weekend I sat at my cousin's funeral — or going home celebration, which more accurately describes it — thinking about the dearly departed and how she packed so much caring for others into her life even as she struggled with illness and advancing age. She was a wonderful woman who had lived through many, many challenges in her life, but in her 73 years she had met these challenges with dignity and had conveyed to her family when would be the right time to allow her to pass away.
Her daughter, who is a minister, spoke to the packed church about the times when, with all of her pain and then a stroke, the doctors had informed them that perhaps it was better to let her go. Yet that was three years ago that that occurred, and if the family had listened to the doctors and refused to see how she fought back and not only recovered but went back to volunteering at the church to feed and clothe the homeless. The medical professionals didn't care about an elderly lady who was on dialysis, but the family did and they knew better. Patricia lived three more years — years her extensive extended family considered "a gift from God."
So isn't part of the lesson of Terri's legacy and Terri's Day for families and loved ones to have a meaningful conversation with their family and to have the written document on hand as well that conveys the wishes clearly and concisely? You betcha.
As I sat in the church I thought of all of the families across the nation and the world who were sitting at their loved one's bedsides — or even standing outside of a hospital emergency room — overwhelmed with emotion, torn by what may be days of conflicting anguished decisions. I thought again of how out of death we may have the certainty of life. Terri's death reminded the nation that yes a state can and will starve you to death, and your family may be rendered helpless as you watch your loved one's precious life forces drain slowly away.
By signing the online pledge at www.kevinfobbs.com or going to www.terrisfight.org, you can learn about how to encourage your state legislature to establish March 31st as an official Terri's Day. Hold a Culture of Life Home Party or meet-and-greet to sign pledges, share ideas and support The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation as well as Culture of Life activities and events in your community or around the nation. Between now and March 31st you can make a dramatic difference for yourself, your family and for the nation. Stand up for the Culture of Life because one person, one life, one family can and does make a difference in America. Make the difference and be the difference today. America...The countdown for the Culture of Life has begun.
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Kevin Fobbs is President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. View NuPac on the web at www.nupac.info. Kevin Fobbs is a regular contributing columnist for the Detroit News. He is also the daily host of The Kevin Fobbs Show on News Talk WDTK - 1400 AM in Detroit. Listen to The Kevin Fobbs Show online at www.wdtkam.com daily 2-3 p.m., and call in toll-free nationwide to make your opinion count at 800-923-WDTK(9385) © Copyright 2006 by Kevin Fobbs http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/fobbs/060313
Excellent news! I've been reading the articles, and this is truly a blessing. Septic gall bladder? Yikes : (
I've been spending a lot of time on the May Day threads, so I haven't been keeping up with the Terri dailies.
Two patients in different Texas hospitals are alive today because of the protest raised by the public following their doctor's decision to discontinue medical treatment, this according to their attorney. Andrea Clark's fragile health is improving and she has been transferred to a new doctor. Yenlang Vo, a patient in St. David's North Austin Medical Center, has been given an additional 30 days to locate another facility for treatment. Both had been designated for death via the removal of life sustaining treatment under the Texas Advance Directives Act of 1999, a law that permits an unelected, self-appointed, anonymous ethics committee to forcibly remove care.
8mm
Somehow the May Day threads and ours are interrelated, what with Judge Greer's gaggle choosing May Day, and that being also the critical period for Andrea. May Day was an eye opener in lots of ways.
No trouble in my neck of the woods, but damn...the riots in Vista were something else. There was a live thread here, but it was glossed over by the local media. The same with trouble in downtown Los Angeles. No cows...they tip cars :-/
Just wait until 6/6/06. On monday, some idiot posted on myspace.com saying yesterday was "bring your gun to school day" in Newhall, CA. Hart HS was crawling with Sheriff deputies.
It looks like there is hope for Andrea and Mrs. Vo. If they pass, they go on the Lord's time schedule.
I was underwhelmed by the economic impact of the illegals, insurgents, or whatever they were called. Not much of their presence here. Even though they were told to behave, their true selves got the best of them and they just had to riot anyway. Must have been tough to the media to have to ignore a lot and focus on the American flags. Riot on May Day is like a tradition in Europe.
What ever happened to the old fashioned fun of cow tipping or outhouse tipping? Things got serious.
Bingo! First Prize to be decided on when I get around to it :-)
Interesting, isn't it, that "Terri's Law" works in Texas, too. Wherever the law favors death, it will be scrupulously observed. Wherever the law favors life, it will be ignored.
It is too bare!
You cracked the secret code.
{Lip quivers.}
{Eyes tear up.}
Peaches...........
........ aren't vegetables?!?
Bears watching....
Bear with us.
Couple weeks ago, wife heard noise outside on the porch and figured it may be an intruder. Armed of course, turned on the outside lights and was on the other side of the big picture window maybe five feet away, from an unperturbed black bear standing up. He was reaching up easily to touch the soffet, one big black bear. Wife did not go outside and visit with it, I am grateful to report. (It was a real possibility). After several hours he left. Next night he climbed into the bed of the pickup truck. Then he ambled off not to be seen again.
Hahahaha! There is a thread here somewhere where a poster asked what we bought. I cannot believe how many of us went to WalMart on Monday. I usually don't patronize them, but I've been needing a new kitchen trash can, and Monday seemed the time to do it. Also bought a carton of smokes, and found a sun tea jug at Target. Bought a few items at Stater Bros, too. Didn't spend a lot (don't have a lot, lol!), but dammit we had to do something. I know a lot of Hispanics that are plain disgusted.
I haven't seen any legitimate stats on economic impact from these marches, except for the Mexican businesses who were "encouraged" to shut down, and for the workers who were threatened if they showed up at work. Yep. May Day in all its' socialistic glory. The American flags were a calculated ruse, imo.
Things are getting really serious on all fronts.
ROTF! Pssst....tomatoes aren't vegetables, either ;-D
Schiavo phrase book (open for contributions):
Jack the Ripper raised his dagger and schiavoed it into the woman's heart.
The horse was sick. When it schiavoed, a large, smelly puddle formed.
"Forget about ebola," said Pianko. "We'll schiavo the human race."
As long as he's not trying to date your daughter :-)
Our amusement all week has been turkeys at the bird feeder.
That is what the bear was after, the bird seed and also the suet hanging high, no problem for him. He just munched and squished the holder.
Wife was relieved the noise wasn't a human. Wasn't afraid of the bear, should have been.
Not to forget schiavo means slave in Italian and felos means, well, felos....
Thank you. You conspire. I'm going to go have a beer.
Dutch Oversight Authorities find Euthanasia on the Rise
8mm
If there was such a group, I'd bet on the wall of silence cracking.
Revealing wording. A judge is supposed to rule strictly on evidence. He doesn't "side" with one party.
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