The Black Republican

Today is my birthday...44! My feelings on birthdays tend to conform to that of most people: The first 21 were anticipated because there was always some benefit (real or perceived) to attaining that next age; the next 10-15 (to about age 35) there was ambiguity; at age 35 or so it begins to dawn on you that, with the life expectancy being about 70, you have lived HALF of your life... so every birthday after 35 just sucks! In talking with my father though, I know that feeling will change somewhere around the age of 70, because after that the feeling is "Whew! Made another one!"

Unfortunately, today is also the day that Michael Schiavo can, with the blessing of several State and Federal judges, starve his wife to death. For those of you who are not familiar with this case, here is a brief synopsis: Somehow, Terri Shindler-Schiavo suffered a neck injury, and her ribs and parts of her body suffered fractures. According to a neurologist who was asked by a court to examine Terri: "Right now we have a woman who had a collapse with no known cause. No evidence of infection, heart attack, respiratory failure or anything. The only thing found in the emergency room is a damaged neck." The result is that Terri suffered brain damage when the flow of oxygen to her brain was cut off for a period of time. Medical examinations have ruled out heart attack, cardiac arrest and potassium imbalance, meaning that it is likely that her oxygen supply was cut off when her neck was somehow injured to the point of extreme rigidity. And now the woman's husband, Michael Schiavo (who may or may not have been complicit in her obtaining those injuries), wants to have the tube that provides Terri with food and water removed because he claims that he is honoring his marriage vows by carrying out the wishes of his wife that she not be kept alive by "artificial means." Terri is cognitively disabled, she is not brain-dead, not in a comatose state, not terminal, and not connected to a respirator. If the feeding tube is removed, she will starve to death. Whatever she may or may not have said to her husband, I do not believe any human being could consider food and water as artificial means, do you? But so far, the courts and legal system in this country have been either unable or unwilling to side with Terri's parents efforts to keep their daughter alive. And today, unless something is done, Michael Schiavo will be allowed to starve his wife to death, all the while claiming that it is what she wants. Oh, did I fail to mention that the altruistic Michael Schiavo has been living with another woman for years (and has two children by her) and will gain financially from Terri's death? And, by the way, there is currently only one person alive that could confirm exactly how Terri received her injuries, and that's Terri. Should she be starved to death, that secret dies with her. How convenient!

(Read this to understand better!)

From what I can tell, the people that are supporting Michael Schiavo's efforts (read ACLU, Death with Dignity, Hemlock Society, et al) are telling Terri's parents, family, friends and the world that because she cannot function the same way she could before the "accident" that put her in her present condition, that she would not want to continue living - that this is her wish. To those people I wish to ask, do you think that Terri would have the same death wish were she aware of the affect her plight has had on millions of people across the country? And can you even be sure she isn't aware?

I have a designation on my drivers license identifying me as an organ donor, not because I wish for some misfortune to befall me, but in an attempt to turn any misfortune I may have into the greatest possible good for others. It gives me a good feeling now, while I am alive, to know that if something does happen, I could help save or improve the lives of others. It's a sad fact, but I only know who Terri Shindler is because of her misfortune, but don't you think she would want the same opportunity as me? As any of us? Don't you think she would want to do the greatest good for others that she could? I do. Terri's life, her struggle, as hard as it is, serves as an inspiration. I know for a fact that her life has had a greater positive affect on more people than mine ever has, and probably ever will. People have begun examining to a much closer degree the value we as a society place on human life, and that is a very good thing.

I also know her death, through the actions of anyone other than God, would only benefit a few, and possible only one.