Die Already
(So, I just thought I'd throw out this farewell to the woman we all have to watch die.)
Farewell, Terri,
Wished it coulda happened differently. I also wish you woulda divorced that creep before you showed up in the hospital with marks on your neck in the first place.
I hate this country right now, hate our legal system, hate the media. Hate hate. Hateful stupid country. They are comparing your case to two other women who's families fought to have them removed from life support whereas your family is fighting to keep you on food and water. They compared you to two women who were unconscious or in comas whereas you seem to be awake and responsive. I really do hope you are too brain-damaged to understand what's happening. I sincerely hope you don't feel pain as your body dries up on you. I think your husband is a bastard. Have I said that already? But I think this country's full of 'em and I'm more frightened to still be sitting here in America as a woman whose husband could someday do away with her when he conveniently remembers a conversation we had five years earlier. Nobody should have that right over anyone else.
I wish your family had the right to slip you sips of water or pudding or something, because it seems to me they feel the anguish of watching you be murdered. And what parent needs that torture? They talk about dignity. Your dignity. Letting you die as you wished to die. Instead of, I suppose, the indignity of not having full capabilities. Sure there's a lack of dignity in being unable to clearly articulate words or feed yourself. That sucks. But what greater human dignity can there be to be loved and cared for in your deformed, unlovable state? Someone thinks you are worth the trouble. Someone cares to be near you, even diminished as you are. Isn't that dignified? Some days, knowing I am loved is the only thing that makes me feel half human. So maybe you know the answer to this question: how is that less dignified than being handed over to starvation by a detached husband? Especially when he's planning your cremation against your religious preferences? Where's the dignity in that?
I'm rambling now. And I realize you probably have other things to think about right now (if indeed you can "think" according to some mystical definition somebody somewhere has decided on). I don't envy you. I wouldn't want to be you. I don't even want to be me sometimes. In this creepy, weird, life-cheapening world.
Anyways, peace, Terri. I'm trying not to watch.
Farewell, Terri,
Wished it coulda happened differently. I also wish you woulda divorced that creep before you showed up in the hospital with marks on your neck in the first place.
I hate this country right now, hate our legal system, hate the media. Hate hate. Hateful stupid country. They are comparing your case to two other women who's families fought to have them removed from life support whereas your family is fighting to keep you on food and water. They compared you to two women who were unconscious or in comas whereas you seem to be awake and responsive. I really do hope you are too brain-damaged to understand what's happening. I sincerely hope you don't feel pain as your body dries up on you. I think your husband is a bastard. Have I said that already? But I think this country's full of 'em and I'm more frightened to still be sitting here in America as a woman whose husband could someday do away with her when he conveniently remembers a conversation we had five years earlier. Nobody should have that right over anyone else.
I wish your family had the right to slip you sips of water or pudding or something, because it seems to me they feel the anguish of watching you be murdered. And what parent needs that torture? They talk about dignity. Your dignity. Letting you die as you wished to die. Instead of, I suppose, the indignity of not having full capabilities. Sure there's a lack of dignity in being unable to clearly articulate words or feed yourself. That sucks. But what greater human dignity can there be to be loved and cared for in your deformed, unlovable state? Someone thinks you are worth the trouble. Someone cares to be near you, even diminished as you are. Isn't that dignified? Some days, knowing I am loved is the only thing that makes me feel half human. So maybe you know the answer to this question: how is that less dignified than being handed over to starvation by a detached husband? Especially when he's planning your cremation against your religious preferences? Where's the dignity in that?
I'm rambling now. And I realize you probably have other things to think about right now (if indeed you can "think" according to some mystical definition somebody somewhere has decided on). I don't envy you. I wouldn't want to be you. I don't even want to be me sometimes. In this creepy, weird, life-cheapening world.
Anyways, peace, Terri. I'm trying not to watch.
posted by k_sra at 3/25/2005 01:58:00 PM
6 Comments:
i posted on this...it's actually 2 years old...whence this came about the first time on the news. i think my views differ a bit from most peoples, and i'll point you towards my comment on yr sisters site pertaining to alzeihmers(sp?). the vagrant look of a hollow mind can split anyones soul if you look into those eyes enough. i don't know if you've ever been injured badly enough to not be able to move, but i can tell you from experience, quitting crosses your mind an amazing amount. i don't think it's cowardice, just a natural instinct that time is up, i can't do for myself anymore. but that's just me.
K, I hate to see you down. I'm sending your way a big wet kiss, from Brutus of course! He's good at those face drenching, slobbering kisses! they are enough to bring a smile to anyon's mug.
Thanks, Dag. Tell Brutus I love him. He's a good dog. I scratch his ears in absentia and pat him solidly on the broad side with resounding thuds.
Yeah, lukas, I am sure there is a giving-in moment for each of us. Everyone is trying to make guesses about Terri's. I wish they would slide more toward letting her live rather than letting her die. but that's just me. : )
by the by, heard from broham yet?
This case makes me nuts. People clearly do not understand what's going on here.
I've been checking out some living will documentation lately (who hasn't), and I've noticed that under virtually all of the "DNR" clauses I've seen, had Terri signed one of these, she'd be allowed to live.
The most common language I see is something like this:
"CHOICE NOT To Prolong Life. I do not want my life to be prolonged if (1) I have an incurable and irreversible condition that will result in my death within a relatively short time, (2) I become unconscious and, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, I will not regain consciousness, or (3) the likely risks and burdens of treatment would outweigh the expected benefits."
Terri Schiavo does not meet any of these criteria. She was not undergoing medical treatment.
As the priest said on CNN last night - you don't go out to a restaurant for medical treatment.
Thanks for commenting, Waugsqueke. This case makes me crazy, too. It's too brutal. It's too far on one side. I can't see how it's right to starve a person when that person has a history of being able to eat food via mouth if given the opportunity. Which she was denied by her husband.
A person said to me on the phone the other day, "She's been dead for fifteen years." And it made my skin crawl. What are we defining now as death? This woman isn't even unconscious. She has normal responses to stimuli, even, apparently, emotional stimuli.
And we have law enforced starvation now to deal with as a country. Fucking hell.
if yr referrin to my brother...no. my fone is el no dinero ono. so i can't callo. oh wello. hope he's well. hope u r 2.
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