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Terri's Life Has Meaning As I write this, a
woman lies dying in Florida. She is
dying a slow death, death by starvation. It’s
the kind of death we as a nation spend billions trying to prevent each year.
All over the world, the cry is heard:
“Our people are hungry. Please
send nourishment.” And we do.
Last year’s foreign aid budget was a hundred billion dollars.
For perspective, that’s nearly one-sixth of the national budget
deficit. We spend A LOT of money
trying to prevent death by starvation.
Only in this case,
far from sending aid, the government is actually ordering Terri Schiavo to
starve. Terri Schiavo, of course,
is the 41-year-old Florida woman who collapsed fifteen years ago (ostensibly due
to a chemical imbalance brought on by bulimia) and has not yet recovered.
She spends her days in a Pinellas Park hospice, awake but apparently
minimally aware of her surroundings. She
cannot speak, she cannot walk, she is partially blind and, perhaps most
pertinently, she cannot swallow food. Because
of this, she requires a feeding tube for nourishment. Her husband, Michael
Schiavo, has fought a lengthy court battle to have her put out of her supposed
misery. Eight years after she collapsed, Mr. Schiavo recalled a
conversation he claimed they had while watching a TV movie about a woman on life
support in which she said “I wouldn’t want to live like that.”
Based on Mr. Schiavo’s claim, a series of both state and federal courts
have ruled that he may withhold nourishment
from Terri in order to end her life -- the life she supposedly “would
not want to live.” Okay.
Forget for a moment that it took Michael Schiavo EIGHT YEARS after
Terri’s collapse to remember this so-called conversation.
Forget that he has already received more than 1.5 million dollars from a
malpractice suit concerning Terri’s care and reportedly stands to gain even
more upon her death. And forget
that Michael Schiavo has, for all intents and purposes, a new wife (a longtime
girlfriend who bears the title “fiancee”) with whom he has fathered two
children. Just for a moment, put
all that aside and assume that Michael and Terri really did have that
conversation, and that Terri’s words were as Michael claims. Give the gift of music with iTunes gift certificates The fact is, even if
it were all true, it flat-out doesn’t apply to this case.
Period. End of story. Terri Schiavo is not brain dead.
She is not in a coma. She is
not on life support. She responds
to stimuli, smiles at her mother, and expresses agitation and distress.
Yes, she is severely handicapped compared to the vibrant, intelligent
young woman she apparently was at 26 years of age.
But she is conscious, and aware, and most certainly alive in the truest
sense of the word. I must stop here to
tell you about a friend of mine with a young adopted daughter.
Mary Jo* is four years old, and cannot swallow.
Because of this, she is nourished via a feeding tube hooked up three
times a day to give her meals -- just like Terri Schiavo was before her husband
succeeded in getting the courts to put a stop to it.
Mary Jo is severely mentally retarded thanks to a biological mother who
was a heavy drug user. She cannot
speak or reason, and may never walk without assistance. Certainly, her life will be one long, miserable trial in more
ways than anyone reading this column can imagine. But she smiles.
Oh, the smiles. Her mother
says they light up the world. And
when her mama snuggles her close, those contented sighs . . . that’s
communication, is it not? If you
asked her if her life had meaning, she wouldn’t be able to answer.
If you asked her mother . . . well, you might get punched in the face. Then there are the
people who say Terri “can’t participate in life,” that she “isn’t
contributing anything anymore.” I
beg to differ. Terri Schiavo is contributing more to this world than most of
us ever will. She is teaching those
around her -- the doctors, nurses, family, friends, reporters, and everyone else
-- compassion. Unconditional love.
Humility. Servitude.
Patience. All virtues that
seem to have fallen by the wayside in our utterly self-centered, comfort- and
convenience-oriented culture that has no time for a woman such as Terri -- a
woman so completely helpless as to need diapers changed and private parts washed
and simple balloons waved gently in front of her face as a form of
entertainment. This, of course, is
the same culture that encourages us to abort genetically impaired babies because
“no one would want to live like that.” Well, a lot people DO
live like that. There are countless
human beings in America today, with varying levels of “consciousness,” who
are helpless, and humble, and unable to do the simplest things to keep
themselves alive. They rely on the
love and compassion of family and medical professionals to allow them to enjoy
their lives -- lives very, very different than yours or mine, but lives with
value, all the same. Lives that
teach a humbling lesson to those of us who enjoy good health and good fortune:
In an instant, it could all be gone. Best NEWS Magazines. LOWEST PRICES Online! MAGAZINES.com. And that’s really
what it comes down to with Terri, is it not?
When people say “I wouldn’t want to live like that,” what they’re
really saying is “I hope that never happens to me.”
Because it’s terrifying, really, the thought that while today you are
healthy and happy, tomorrow you could be just like Terri -- without pride,
without ability, without beauty . . . without any of the things that society
teaches us are valuable. But it’s
the truth. You know it, I know it,
everyone knows it. That’s why
millions of people are rushing to their lawyers this week and demanding living
wills. But think about that
for a minute. While it’s completely rational to say “I hope what
happened to Terri never happens to me,” do you really want to sign your own
death warrant? Do you really want
to put in writing that “I wouldn’t want to live that way?” What would happen if that decision actually had to be made?
Imagine for a moment you were aware of everything going on around you,
but unable to communicate, move, or even scream:
Would you want to be starved to death, or helped? It shouldn’t even be a question . . . and it shouldn’t be for Terri, either. *Name
has been changed.
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