Terri Schiavo - Rest in Peace

I wish that she would. What we've seen with the media and legal circus that has abounded is this: everyone has an agenda. But who's really thinking about Terri and what she would want? The entire movement of government around this issue has been vile and revolting - pandering, indeed, to tend to the far right's base. Where you stand in this political firestorm depends on your experience and perception - some people think that the misleading video from 2003 shows that Terri is cognizant. Her parents desperately cling to hope based on the fact that Terri's body responds to some stimuli and refuse to believe the doctors' reports that she is in a persistent vegetative state. Their story keeps changing. They now say she's not in a persistent vegetative state, and invented some story about Michael Schiavo abusing Terri. I call bullshit on that one. I understand that they are just desperate, but their actions sometimes border on wicked. This reinforces that the lies we tell ourselves are the most powerful ones indeed. I think that Terri - the part of her that people truly love - has long left the shell that is her body. I believe in miracles, and I am on the side of the pro-life movement, but I also believe that sometimes you have to accept that God has called his child to come home. It's time for these people to stop asking the doctors to play God and keep the woman alive. Her brain is deteriorating, not improving. Give her body a rest. Terri left it a long time ago, and her spirit isn't feeling anything except shame and disgust that she is being shown at her lowest, touted as a political pawn, and unable to rest because of political zealots. In all of this, few people are thinking about what Terri would want. She wouldn't want this pain, this spectacle, this farcical movement of ignorant idiots in Congress that don't even know her, haven't seen her, and will have forgotten about her by this time next year. Let me inform you that I'm generally a pro-life person. I do believe that the unborn should have a chance to live, a chance to make their own choices. In a world of competing choices, I believe that the one without a voice should be afforded the opportunity to speak for themselves, instead of having their mothers and/or fathers take it away from them. Here, the voiceless ones' choice reigns over the more more responsible party's choice. This is tough when it comes to rape, when it's no one's choice but the rapist's. It's a hard burden, but the child deserves a chance to live. And it's even more difficult when it comes to children with deformities. Man, it has been a long road coming to that opinion, but here I am. That said, I believe that in a choice of whether to live or die, a person should be able to refuse medical treatment and that choice should be respected. This choice is personal and does not infringe upon the rights of another person. Of course, any action that an individual chooses is going to have ramifications on others, especially loved ones. But ramifications and rights are not the same thing. I can make choices in my life that would make my family unhappy, but they have no actual rights at stake. The ramifications are merely unpleasant. Psssst, Schindlers: there is no constitutional right for you to be happy. I believe that Terri made her choice long ago, and voiced that opinion to her husband. Her husband, with whom she became one flesh, and her proper legal guardian. He stands on principle to not deliver her to her parents, who would exercise draconian measures to keep her alive just so that they could be happy. It would be so easy, wouldn't it? End the drama, move on... except that Terri's shell couldn't pass away and join her spirit with God. Would you allow your loved one to be subjected to the very hell they said they wouldn't want to be in? I do believe in miracles. I believe that all things are possible with God. I also believe that sometimes you have to accept the fact that God chooses to be silent and not answer prayers. You can control what you can, but God is sovereign. And I think God made it clear long ago that Terri's spirit is with him, though her body remains here - reacting to stimuli and making noise. I wish that Terri's parents would give her peace and let go. Let her be with God completely, so they can begin healing. Maybe then they could find some peace. But of course, this isn't my choice. My opinion doesn't mean diddlyshit. I only wish love to all of them, and healing. An extra dose of love and energy to Michael Schiavo, though, for fighting the good fight and being a man of principle. Everyone should start thinking about making a will and a healthcare power of attorney/surrogate, if you haven't already. At least your voice can be definitively heard, instead of being drowned out by others' personalities. For your reading pleasure, Terri's Guardian ad litem's report to Gov. Bush produced last year. Good reading. Wish the fanatical dolts in Congress would read it. To Congress, I wish you your just desserts - either now or in the afterlife.