(no subject)

[somedaybitch]

for those of a Christian faith, today rates bigger than Christmas. sure, we celebrate Christmas as the day the Big Guy was born, but Easter is the day that after dying, He rises up and lives again. if you are so inclined to that belief.

having just buried my father -- and my deepest thanks and amazement for the Bishop of the Archdiosese that covers North Las Vegas for granting my family a special dispensation to have a mass on Holy Thursday-- i find myself thinking about the Schiavo case. there is no way that i would have allowed anyone, should my father's condition have degenerated to such a degree, to artifically sustain his life. and i speak from a position of experience, having already had to write a DNR order for my stepfather three years ago, when an outrageously aggressive cancer put him in a coma. (this week, oddly enough.) my definition of love precludes it. would i have wanted Larry to live? oh God, yes. but not like that. that wasn't life. that was existence. and they aren't the same thing. and for anyone that thinks otherwise, i tell you that you are self absorbed and stupid, and maybe you should try sitting at the bedside of a dying human and watch them waste away before your eyes.

my heart breaks for the family of Terri Schiavo. it truly does. and not because they have had to watch their loved one in such a state, but because some of them refuse to put aside their own grief and think about Terri. maybe not suprisingly, i fall on the side of the rule of law. the courts have exercised a diligence far beyond that required, and they have done so for years. the federal courts, and the federal government, have no right to intervene in a case that is clearly states rights. the former gets that, having twice refused to hear the case, the latter, sadly, does not. and i sort of understand why some of them truly believe that their actions are right, but this isn't about anyone's moral beliefs. it is about the rule of law. and it is about the rights that states have to determine what's best for their citizens without federal interference.

Terri has a right to live a good life, an actual life. her current existence is not that life. if those who claim they are basing this on their moral beliefs actually were doing so, then they would remember today, of all days, and its meaning, and they would let Terri go so that her soul could be free to continue.

there is an excellent faq on this case here.

so give it some thought, maybe from a different point of view, and then go find someone you love and hug them tight. and maybe don't let go for awhile because you are so lucky they are in your life.

Comments

[eve11]

There is another good blog with case history and such here: http://abstractappeal.com/ --> it's a blog dedicated to Florida judicial system.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

yeah, the link i give also links to them several times. is that the blog written by the Florida attorney that's been keeping up with the case?

[eve11]

Yeah, that's the one.

[leda13.livejournal.com]

my profoundest sympathies for your loss. Having seen my own father die of lymphoma - thankfully at home, with his family around him - ten years ago this week, I can't help but empathise.

Terry Schiavo's situation is heartbreaking. I am personally in two minds about it, because the actualities are just as disturbing as the legal wrangle. It's not a death I would wish on anyone, but then - neither is her life one anyone would desire. I don't think I'm qualified to judge who is right or wrong, but I hope that the end comes soon, for her sake.

[fialka.livejournal.com]

My tradition has other ideas, but for me the crux of the matter is summed up right there - "neither is her life one anyone would desire." In the awful circumstance that this were me, I would hope the people I love would have the strength to kiss me goodbye and let me go.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

In the awful circumstance that this were me, I would hope the people I love would have the strength to kiss me goodbye and let me go.

as would i. :::eyeballs the brain bits sternly:::

[thevaliumsofalj.livejournal.com]

:::hugsyoutight:::

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

my profoundest sympathies for your loss. Having seen my own father die of lymphoma - thankfully at home, with his family around him - ten years ago this week, I can't help but empathise.

{{{{{hugs you tight}}}}}

so every other time I have thought to write on this...

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

I end up hitting the back button, consigning the contents to the ether. There is so much complexity to explain something really simple, because I hate to sound like a moralizing prick, who knows way more than everyone else. So I would keep this simple, for the expedience of my own brain...

To my Christian brethren: Please note that if a miracle occurs or doesn't, it will not be thwarted or aided by your physical actions. Your God does not need an additional month or year to cause a miracle if that is his desire, time is likely to be immaterial to him. Likewise if He decides to take her today or in a few more that is also his decision, it is not within us to decide this. Anything that we do reaction or action, the length of this life or any other is really a way for all the rest of us to learn the lessons shown there. What lessons can I learn from this?

Everyone dies. Sometimes it is sooner, sometimes later, sometimes we wish it weren't so. Occasionally we are glad it is to deliver us from suffering. It is a journey we will all make. It is not within us to order the hour of it's coming for ourselves, but it is within us to comfort those who would go. And those that stay. Why do you search for the living among the dead? He is not here. If you believe in a next life, then let her go, and comfort those that really need your help, the ones left behind. Guide them back through their grief, to their faith. The faith that everlasting life awaits. From a faith standpoint this life is the wink of an eye, the next, forever. Be comforted that is her destination.

If all of what I have said before rings true, then what of law? Has it not proven itself reasoning and wise? Public law, dispassionate of religions for the most part. There was neither the rush of reckless misjudgment, nor the final reversal for no other reason than the winds changed. The long steady plod of Law has come to the same conclusion numerous times, with numerous people. How can we say this is not deliberate?

We have the release of one to her eternal life [If, indeed she is even here still] backed by The Law of The Land. Why are the very people who should be happy with this, not? Her parents, true, may never come to see this right, until they meet her again in the next life, and that is sad. If their own Church and friends could see true, then they might ease her parents' suffering, perhaps they will forgive the son-in-law they once loved, perhaps they will forgive, themselves...

IMHO, and YMMV
and always hugs for TiMI ;)

Re: so every other time I have thought to write on this...

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

it makes you wonder how much of their reticence lies in guilt, doesn't it? poor family. it's so easy to sit around and discuss faith as an abstract concept, but so difficult to trust in it when it matters. and it doesn't even have to be faith in a religious sense but simply faith in the order of things, the balance of the universe. none of which seems to matter when the issue is the life of someone you love.

Re: so every other time I have thought to write on this...

[arthurfrdent.livejournal.com]

agreed, I wouldn't aim such words at a family member. You and I both [and everyone else 'round here] know how difficult it is to handle the grief of the dying when it happens on it's own. How much more tangled and painful is this situation to parents, and to the one seemingly ignored, her spouse. No, admonishment is for those who say they support the family, who have driven from all over to be there. They could be a powerful force for good, perhaps helping to begin the path of grief for both families in a gentle way. I know first hand that the support of friends and strangers has often brought me away from the clutches of despair. {{{{{TiMI}}}}}

[pualaridesagain.livejournal.com]

In the awful circumstance that this were me, I would hope the people I love would have the strength to kiss me goodbye and let me go.

as would i. :::eyeballs the brain bits sternly:::

Not only would I kiss you goodbye and let you go, I would make sure that you had a good death.

I'm sorry if this sounds simplistic, cruel or even mean.

A good life deserves a good and merciful death. Why is it that we can take an animal to the vet to be humanely euthanized, but we can't to it to a human? This opens a big can of worms, but it hurts to know that there is still a soul in Terri, even though her brain may be gone, and I'm sure her soul is suffering.

I too, believe in the law. Even the law in this case even though it sounds cruel. The courts have done a good job with this sticky wicket. But a long protracted death is cruel. Plain cruel. In this case, I think euthanasia would be a good thing, a mercy. What if Terri pulls a Karen Anne Quinlan?

hugs to kais and fellow bits

[eve11]

There's no way that Terri Schiavo would be able to survive the way Karen Ann Quinlan did. Quinlan was in a coma, on a respirator and feeding tube, and her family advocated removing her from the respirator. When they finally did remove the respirator, Quinlan continued breathing on her own for 9 years. But she did receive hydration/food that whole time, otherwise there is no way she would have been able to survive.

As for a long protracted death... from all of the doctor's reports and things I've read, death by lack of nutrition in a pvs person may be long but it can't be painful. You have to be conscious in order to feel pain (a link from CNN). Otherwise people wouldn't be able to undergo surgery just with anesthetic, right? Once you wake back up, you feel pain, but you aren't aware of anything during the procedure. That part of the brain that makes you aware of what is going on is turned off. In Terri Schiavo and other pvs patients, it's destroyed.

So it's odd -- I am pretty certain that Terri Schiavo doesn't feel pain and isn't suffering, but the idea of death by removal of nutrition still does bother me. Probably because I am empathizing, but keeping my nervous system and cognition intact. And, it must really be hard for the rest of the family to go through.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

a good death is a noble thing to aspire to. no different really than aspiring to a good life. things not wasted. ;)

[sevathediva.livejournal.com]

I couldn't help but feel relieved for her. Let's see: Go to Heaven, or lie in this bed and die an eternally slow death?

seva

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

yeah, me too. it must be a hard thing for the family to have to struggle with not just the grief, but their perception that they have an antagonist in Michael. grief is a wonky thing.

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

{{{{{wg}}}}} You have my most profound sympathies. As do Terri Schiavo and her family.

It's hard to let someone you love go, but, for me, it's even harder to hang on to them in a situation like this. We made the decision almost 20 years ago now to take my father off life-support. In his case, he passed on within only a couple of hours, so it's unimaginable to me what Terri's family is going through with this dragging on into weeks.

They've been in my prayers, that God will take Terri home sooner rather than later and that her parents can accept this and take comfort that she will no longer suffer.

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

{{{hugs you tight}}}

[spiderbaggins.livejournal.com]

{{{{{{{{{Sis}}}}}}}}}}}

And hugs to the whole Schiavo family.
{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

thanks baby. twin hugs rock the house.