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's a very good thing.
If Terri dies, we can be sure that the judges have won, for if impeachable offenses have not been committed, then there are no impeachable offenses.
If Jeb Bush does not go to Terri's rescue, then his political aspirations will be as lifeless as Terri.
GWB and conservatives will suffer. I don't need to explain why.
The merciless starvation of a useless eater moves us to a position of having one more thing in common with a universally hated regime, a comparison which the liberals have anticipated and started denying a decade ago.
I will let go when God takes her and not a moment sooner. Until then there is still a chance that this travesty can be stopped and justice be done.
She should go home to god, she shouldnt have to suffer on the way. the aclu wants executions stoped because of the supposed pain they suffer for the 5 minutes they are getting the chemicals injected but we let terri linger for 2 weeks? thats bull$h!t. if your going to kill her, just get it over with, send her on to god. Im thinking along the lines of deadwood season 1 where the preacher is diein in horrid pain and the doctor is on his knees praying that god takes him on to heaven and to end his suffering and at the exact same time Al finishes him off with as much respect as he can (since his brother suffered the same fate).
I don't see any other legal avenues open, but I may be wrong.
I don't think we should break the law. And there are quite a few who want to do that.
Excellent post, Michael, and I commend you wholeheartedly for it. I only have one small disagreement with the above sentence. Those who want to ignore the rule of law are not "those in power" who "didn't get their way." Rather, the people who want to keep Terri Schiavo nominally alive at all costs are those who want to ignore the rule of law.
To peach, Howlin, onyx, and trinity, the Neil Boortz quote mhking included in his post is interesting to me, because it askes precisely the same questions I did yesterday in several ways, on several threads. I'm glad someone else has similar insights and, in Boortz' case, a radio forum to share them with a wide audience.
As I've also said a number of times, the Schiavo case is not unique. This morning, Geraldine Ferraro said on FOX News that there are some 30,000 to 35,000 people in the U.S. currently in a similar or identical state. The only difference between them is the epic family feud in the Schiavo case.
If all the people whose passions have been inflamed by the Schiavo case would look to the larger issues highlighted by the case, they might eventually make her inevitable death meaningful. We need a national policy -- national legislation -- to govern how these cases should be handled.
For example, in the landmark Karen Ann Quinlan case, the Supreme Court initially denied her parents' request to remove her life support on the grounds they could not prove that would have been her wishes. Later, the parents were able to prove that in the Missouri courts, and her life support was removed. I don't know what proof the parents were able to provide the Missouri courts.
If there were national legislation which says, among other things, that there must be a written or videotaped declaration from the person before life support (including feeding tubes) can be withdrawn, then the Schiavo case would never have gone as far as it has.
This is the way to turn what is a private family tragedy that's become far too public -- and almost way out of hand -- into a meaningful and constructive historical event.
Jesus is waiting for ALL the mentally handicapped, late stage Elohim's, dementia people on earth....
SO, lets just kill them all now so they reach Jesus faster!!!
This thread is a good illustration of the "slippery slope"
Reminds me of a story I once heard.
A kid came home from school and didn't see that the mom had invited the preacher over for dinner.
The kid said, "Mom, you won't believe what I did today. I saw this snake on the ground, and I stomped him and stomped him and stomped him and stomped him..." then he saw the preacher "and then the Lord took him home."
I just read your post and agree with what you have said. This discussion must be difficult for you have been through so much of your own pain and loss. Your parents were so fortunate to have so much love surrounding them by you.
May God Bless you for your intense loving care and sacrifices you gave to your parents!
lost control of the spell checker.
Excellent.
Agreed.
BTTT
Please get your facts straight. The law passed by Congress had nothing - absolutely nothing - to do with any proceeding in Greer's courtroom.
We heard all of this stuff during the whole Elian Gonzalez ordeal.
On the one hand we had people saying that if the Republicans couldn't stop Elian from being taken back to Cuba, they would never vote Republican ever again.
On the other hand, you had people saying that Republicans were going to lose votes because they were sticking their nose in a family issue.
Keep in mind at the time, we had a Democratic President and the GOP had not controlled all three legislative branches in ages.
Let's look at what has happened since then.
President Bush got elected twice.
Republicans now control both the House and Senate as well.
What does that say to me? It says that even if people may disagree, at the end of the day, they will still respect those who act on principles. And as for those who are upset that the Republicans didn't do enough? Who are they going to vote for, the Democrats?
Way too many. The moderators have been pretty good at removing the ones calling for violence, but there's still a lot of sentiment for other illegal or unconstitutional actions here.
Good day, onyx. I'm happy to "see" you. It's a quarter to 9:00am here in sunny Los Angeles, and I'm headed to work. Will check in later.
"Constitutional protections and freedoms wrought by the notion of ignoring the rule of law..."
The phrase 'an unjust law is no law at all' has been carried out from the foundation of our Country all the way through Martin Luther King, Jr. By your thinking our freedoms should have been do away with years ago.
Men standing up to bad laws is what gave us our freedom in the first place. Should we just stop? When the code is out of harmony with the moral law civil disobeidence should be established.
An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. Paraphrased from Aquinas.
All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Paraphrased from Buber.
Standing for life Photo by Joni B. Hannigan Nancy Walter pushes Thomas, 14, and walks alongside Paul, 15, outside the hospice March 23 where Terri Schiavo resides. Both boys have Down syndrome. The trio was there to support Schiavo's right to live. Hopefully not future starvation victims!
Be safe.
Drive defensively.
And they're also overlooking the fact that the bulk of Jesus' miracles involved healing the lame and the sick...prolonging life, not cutting it short.
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