Hi Jim,
The information that has been coming through the Media about this
case has been feeding causes and issues from both from the right and
left. After today everyone of us should take a good long look in
the mirror and ask ourselves what we want to take any from this.
For myself, I know I will be going back to read my Living Will and my
Medical Directive so it is current. This line from the Article
"Terri Schiavo: A Cause for the Left?" caught my attention.
"It is not up to a judge, a spouse, or a politician to determine when
someone else should be rubbed out."
I think that while the statement should be true, Terry Schiavo
has shown us that it isn't. If ones very life can be taken from
us, our other "rights" belong to us in word only. If
that's all that I do have, I'm going to be sure its heard while I
can still raise it.
Terry Schiavo -- gone today, March 31, 2005.
With Love,
CtrlAltDel aka Dave
C4/5 Complete - 28 Years Post
Texas,
USA
Jim Lubin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
At 12:03 PM 3/29/2005, Lori Michaelson wrote:
First, If any of us has learned
ANYTHING from this discussion ... we should all have it put in writing
what our wishes are in any scenario. Rather than playing the "I'm
still young ... can't/won't happen to me" game.
Secondly, In
all honesty I really didn't have an opinion on Terri's case.
Why? Because MOST ALL info is SECOND-HAND. Then becomes
hearsay and so on.
And, in all honesty, I can SOMEWHAT "see"
where W is coming from but don't fully agree.
In cases like
Terri's ... onlookers (The nation, the world, the media) will tell OTHERS
what is RIGHT or MORAL or JUST. While half or even 85% may not be
FACTUAL. Any missing pieces to a story makes it less credible
or true.
I agree that we are not getting the whole story in
Terri's case. This is how I look at it:
- Polls have shown most able body people in good health say they would
not want to be kept alive by artificial means or hooked up to machines.
- When an accident happens and a persons wishes are not known,
everything is done to keep them alive. They are taken to a trauma center
and put on machines if needed.
- When a person is actually in a position where they are being
kept alive by artificial means or hooked up to machines, and they are able
to express their wishes, after an initial state of depression many (maybe
most) decide they want to continue living.
- People generally don't chose to starve to death.
So even if
she might have made a comment about not wanting to live "in a condition like
this" sometime before it actually happened to her, since she didn't have her
wishes in writing, she might very well have chosen to remain living.
I came across this article on a "progressive" web site for those who
think it's only the "religious nuts" making a big deal of this case. "Terri
Schiavo: A Cause for the Left?"
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0328-25.htm
