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1. I need to understand this line of thinking…
You say that Terri is now with the Lord, “a much better place”, yet you say you are sad. For what? That Terri is now with the Lord in a much better place? You would rather she suffer the rest of her life in the state she was in?
I’m trying to understand why millions of people are so engrosed with one person when many many people are being killed in Iraq. Both our soldiers and Iraqi civilians.
Plus, where were all these millions when the 6 month old baby was “murdered” in Texas not long ago.
Personally, Terri and her situation is none of my business, not to mention the business of the millions of people that is making her their business including all the media that is making money off her situation.
Comment by Dave M. — 3/31/2005 @ 4:17 pm | Edit This
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3. Dave,
First of all, if Terri is none of your business, then why are you making my grief your business?
Secondly, her husband caused her suffering by all his efforts to kill her. That’s what I wanted stopped. If she had received the care she needed from those who loved her self-LESS-ly, she would have been blessed and would have continued to bless others. With proper care, she wouldn’t have been suffering.
Nonetheless, you may not be able to understand. I am sad that we failed to save Terri - that we (Americans) have failed to save so many from horrible murders all over the world. That we in America are so damn selfish as to impose our own highfalutin’ opinion on someone else’s “quality” of life just because its uncomfortable to look at and because were too damn lazy and narcissistic to GIVE of our own time and energy to care properly for others. A person’s quality of life is more dependent on the relationships in his/her life than it is on his/her physical or mental capabilities. Ultimately, we each have an equal value, no matter what condition we are in, just by virtue of being made in the image of God. And since He is the Author, the Giver, the Creator, the Source of that life, it is not our place to ever end it by our own design. You may not understand this, but we are not our own.
For once we had a wide screen opportunity to change. I think the reason so many people got involved about Terri is that it came to our attention via collaboration of the internet and it was something in which people thought they might be able to make a difference. But I think with her death we are seeing how far the collective soul of America has fallen. When people and our judicial leaders become so callused to suffering and death that they embrace and choose death, rather than fighting and sacrificing time, effort and money for life, that is worse than sad. It’s insane. That is why I grieve.
As for the Iraq thing, every one of those soldiers volunteered to be there with their eyes wide open. They are saints and heroes and I will not belittle what they have done for the Iraqi people. Don’t Vietnam them. They deserve our respect and thanks, nothing less. Sadaam and his sons diabolically tortured and slaughtered many more than will ever die in this war. Plus, your numbers include all those insurgents and their own innocent fellow Iraqis they have taken with them. They would do what they’re doing whether the Armed Forces were there or not. And under Sadaam or any other tyrant it would be 100 times worse.
Comment by patsy — 3/31/2005 @ 7:55 pm | Edit This
April 1st, 2005 at 9:42 am
According to James (which might be a turn-off for some, but I don’t care because this isn’t a deliberating jury) we are supposed to make the suffering of others our “business”. If someone comes to me and is hungry and has no clothing, and I say, “Well, God bless you. Keep warm. I’ll pray for you,” it does no good. I have not shown my faith. And more importantly, Jesus made people his “business”. He ate in their homes, he healed them, he traveled out of his way to visit them. So when a woman is essentially sentenced to death because she is an inconvenience and an obstacle to wealth (only the naive doubt the REAL reasons surrounding this case, give me a break) I will most definitely make it my “business” to stand up for her rights, the same rights we afford criminals and dogs.
April 2nd, 2005 at 5:06 pm
That is easy to say when it’s not happening to you. What happens when due to 15 years of medical expenses, you lose your house, car, savings? Basically have to file bankruptcy to potentially protect yourself from losing those things?
Insurance only goes so far. Then there is the fact that you probably don’t have a job due to spending most of that time in the hospital staying with him/her.
And before you go off saying that wouldn’t happen, dear friends of mine had something almost exactly like that happen to them. The wife had a baby, got very sick during the birth/after, found out she had Preeclampsia. Her liver shutdown, she got a new liver, her kidney’s failed for a time. She never recovered. Her husband was by her side for the entire 5 1/2 months of the ordeal. He took a leave of absense from work (they still paid him 50% anyway, I’m not sure they had to, but we worked at a great online game company at the time). He didn’t lose his home or job, but if the hospital stay had gone on for 15 years, I’m sure the situation would have changed. We all loved his wife, she was a great human being, but if she had gone 15 years in a state similar to Terri, I just can’t imagine that my friend would have been able to afford it. Even both family’s would have been run dry, plus there would have been the child to think of.
Sure, we all would like it if we could take care of every sick individual, but there are limits.
April 2nd, 2005 at 5:41 pm
Dave
You forget: Michael Schiavo was awarded 1.1 million dollars (by a jury, in order to take care of and rehabilitate his wife). The annual interest alone on that much money would be enough to take care of Terri, but, as I’ve said before, that’s a moot point, ‘cause she’s dead. By order of the court.
April 2nd, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Dave, what happened to your friend and his wife is horrible. It must have been very painful for everyone involved. It’s very sad to lose someone like that. But that situation is very different than this one.
This husband was awarded over $1 million to pay for Terri’s rehabilitation - which was happening. She was rehabilitating - she was not PVS - that is perpetual misinformation. And then all of a sudden after 5-6 years, he changed his mind and suddenly claims that she had said she wanted to die. Why didn’t he do that from the moment she collapsed? Why did he get a nursing degree so that he could help with her rehabilitation? But then all of a sudden, he took it all away and stuck her in a hospice. Why??? She wasn’t dying - everything was working - even her swallowing relfex, she didn’t drool and had been eating jello and soups, etc. But then the judge ruled that no one could feed her like that anymore. And then the judge ruled that her feeding tube be taken away. Why??? And if he was just tired of her need for care and his heart had moved on to another, why didn’t he just divorce her and give her to her parents? Why kill her???
Dave, there may be a time when we have to “let a person go” because they are beyond what medicine can do for them - but Terri just wasn’t. She was simply a healthy, not sick, not dying, disabled person. That is the problem in Terri’s case. It was a gross act of injustice, not mercy.
April 2nd, 2005 at 8:32 pm
Jonathan, I am well aware of the fact that he was awarded over a million dollars. I do hope you are aware of what hospital stays cost. Everything is amazingly over priced.
Patsy, if what you say is true, then there needs to be one amazingly in-depth investigation to determine if all the correct steps were followed by one and all. I haven’t put the time in this story as others have since I really felt it was none of my business. However, if all the above is true, then I would have to agree with you and would hope that an investigation would shed some light on Mr. Schiavo’s behavior.