Live and Let

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
   

a The Way Things Sometimes Are >)

CF Miley, Opinions Editor

 

“Little Tony was sitting on a park
bench munching on one candy bar after
another.

After the sixth candy bar, a man on the
bench across from him said, ‘Son, you
know eating all that candy isn’t good for
you. It will give you acne, rot your teeth,
and make you fat.

Little Tony replied, “My grandfather

University of

Lethbridge

D |
lived to be 107 years old’

The man asked, ‘Did your grandfather
eat six candy bars at a time?”

Little Tony answered, ‘No, he minded
his own fucking business.”

—Excerpted from The Guns and
Dope Party, Position Paper #23

Terri Schiavo died this morning
(March 31, 2005). In case you’ve been
away from US media for the last two
weeks, Schiavo was the comatose Florida
woman who had her feeding tube
removed at the behest of her husband
and over the objections of her parents,
religious protestors, and US President
George W. Bush.

I found myself staring aghast at my
TV as this drama unfolded. I couldn’t
believe how the “right to life” argument
intertwined so easily with Mr. Schiavo’s
want to let his ex-wife pass on. Terri
Schiavo was in a vegetative state for the
past 15 years following a 1990 heart attack
that resulted in her brain being severely
damaged. A feeding tube was keeping her

alive, but her quality of life was near nil.
Her ex-husband finally decided to accept
the inevitable, have her feeding tube
removed, and let her die. Mr. Schiavo’s
decision was consistently found to be in
line with Terri Schiavo’s last sentient
expressed wishes. Then the fireworks
began.

Senatots came out of the woodwork
to argue the case for keeping Terri
Schiavo alive. US Senate majority leader,
Bill Frist, argued that it was cruel to sim-
ply remove Schiavo’s feeding tube and let
her starve to death. I actually agree with
him on this one point. It was cruel to let
Terti Schiavo starve to death. Rather than
becoming a symbol of the need to further
instill so-called religious values on US cit-
izens, Tetri Schiavo’s case should be seen
as the exercise of one woman’s wishes for
her own life, as expressed when she had
the capacity to do so. To starve her was
cruel. Her life could have been ended by a
fatal injection while under anesthesia.
Why not let her die quickly and peaceful-
ly, for Christ’s sake? Yes, I said, “for

Pe

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April 6/2005

Christ’s sake.”

I feel Bill Edwards, on american-
thinker.com, said it perfectly in the
following passages:

“The sole pending question in
this case is whether Terri Schiavo
wished to be kept alive in a condi-
radically diminished
capacity. The Florida court charged
with answering that question has
concluded that her last competent
wish was to not prolong her own

tion of

life in the circumstance in which
she now exists, or might reasonably
hope to exist later on. That answer
has survived review by, or petition
for review to, every higher court in
the state and federal systems. It is
therefore ‘the law of the case. In
the law, unless there is a change in
circumstance that justifies further
review, the discussion has conclud-
ed.

The interests [that those seek-
ing legal injunctions to reapply
Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube] seek
to promote, therefore, are not hers.
But neither Mrs. Schiavo’s parents,’
Mr. Schiavo’s, the President’s, the
Pope’s, yours, mine, or anyone
else’s opinion or preference is cur-
rently in issue. If Ms. Schiavo’s
preference for her own life is con-
trary to God’s will, then He will no
doubt take up directly with her the
matter of her exercise of the free
will He granted her. As a Christian,
however, I am unaware of a bibli-
cal basis on which we might
consider ourselves invited by the
Almighty to suspend Ms. Schiavo’s
exetcise of the free will He gave
her. Similarly, as a citizen of the
United States, I am unaware of a
legal, political, or ethical basis on
which we might consider ourselves
justified in contradicting Ms.
Schiavo’s most fundamental deci-
sion as a free woman.”

Mr. Edwards is a_ self-professed
Christian, and yet he’s somehow seen
clear to separate his personal beliefs from
the beliefs of Terti Schiavo, and from the
laws of his country. Bravo, Bill Edwards,
you seem to me to be referring to a sepa-
ration of church and state when it comes
to the express, lawful wishes of an indi-
vidual. Your founding fathers couldn’t
have said it better themselves.

www.theotherpress.ca a