Terri Schiavo X

It's been a long, incommunicado weekend, but I've kept an eye on Terri's condition as much as I could. Some random observations and comments:

Michael Shiavo's attorney, George Felos, made the most apalling speech over the weekend, describing Terri as "beautiful" at a time when her brother described her as looking like a concentration camp inmate. As Bobby Schindler (Terri's brother) is quoted by WorldNetDaily, "I think Mr. Felos has some infatuation with death." (story link here)

Question: If Terri's type of death is supposed to be painless, even peaceful, why are they giving her morphine?

This is an interesting commentary by someone from the Left. Mark Polit, in Common Dreams, gets the central issue right. "There is no issue of self-determination, since their (sic) is no clear directive to act upon, and Terri is not able to express a preference. Even if Terri had made an off hand comment about what she would prefer, people who acquire a disability typically decide that living "that way" is far superior to dying. It is not up to a judge, a spouse, or a politician to determine when someone else should be rubbed out." He continues, "This has not been one of those "difficult cases" of end of life care, since Terri was not chronicly ill. She was not in pain (until they starved her). She was not kept alive artificially (unless you consider food and water artificial). She was not on a "machine" (a tube is merely a fork or spoon for people who can't swallow). Terri was a person with a disability. She was apparently conscious. And she was certainly alive. Since when has it become a progressive position to deny a person the right to their very existence?" Excellent question!

But then Polit goes on an anti-Right rant. "It is the right wing that promotes a culture of death, waging a war of aggression, torturing and murdering prisoners of war, supporting the death penalty, and seeking to roll back funding for health care for seniors and the poor." I don't get how he can be so right about Terri and so wrong about what the right wing stands for. Go figure.

Finally, Joseph Farah's commentary on Judge Greer's pastor is excellent reading. Pastor William Rice, of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida, asked Judge Greer to leave the church, telling the judge, "You must know that in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life. I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands."

This statement is a pointed reminder, not only to Judge Greer, but to each one of us to be sure we are on the side of what is right in all we do. We will usually never know until much later what the defining decisions in our lives will be, so we need to make sure that each decision we make is well thought out, prayed over, and one we will not regret in the future. May God help us all.