Terri Schiavo
— The Value Of A Human Life

Edition #67 — March 25, 2005

A debate is currently raging in Florida, USA, about the right of a husband, Michael Schiavo, to take his long-ailing, clinically brain-dead wife, Terri, off artificial life support. He is of the opinion that lying in a stupor in a hospital bed for fifteen years should not be considered "living." Her parents disagree.

Terri's parents are witness to the same deterioration but remain in denial, holding on to a daughter they once knew, represented only by the empty human shell that remains. Their attachment is understandable. But somewhere beneath their desperate, caring veneer, they may also fear that Terri has no soul. No matter what the religions promise, perhaps they are afraid that once Terri is dead, she'll be gone forever. So they cling to her because she's something tangible, whereas beliefs are not.

I believe that we have a soul and that there exists an afterlife. In fact I feel confident enough to claim to "know" these things because I've experienced them first hand, and not during some "Lost Weekend" either. That knowledge has taken some of the sting out of the prospect of dying, whenever I must, as I realize death is just another doorway our consciousness must pass through as it becomes further "educated."

Yet knowing what I know doesn't make it any easier to know what is the right thing to do in Terri Schiavo's case. My experience has made me far more sensitive and compassionate than I ever was before. And although I feel that we cannot "kill" her by allowing her body to die as it wants to, I don't know if I could allow myself to watch it happen.

I can't imagine myself being the person who unplugs Terri from life support; no matter whether I was "just doing my job" or not. But that's me. I don't have the constitution for it. I imagine myself in other people's shoes and that sets the precedent. A simple example is the new stray kitten we have: when she whimpers, I jump to her aid. I can't shut her out because it is in my nature to care and ensure she's not suffering. Better yet, to make sure she is having a good life.

But I also imagine myself in Terri's shoes. What would I want? If I could reach for the plug myself, would I pull it to end my own life — providing a pro-lifer didn't try to stop me? As a healthy person sitting here at my computer, the answer is no. But as someone lying in a hospital bed for fifteen years, unable to function on even the lowest level of what would be considered "human" behavior, I would have to say let's get on with the show; pull that plug; let's get this afterlife party started! Two weeks of suffering (which often it isn't at all) is better than sitting around for another thirty years for the sake of her parents, or lawyers and politicians who won't visit anyway.

Courage

My friend Dorothy is a nurse at a major Toronto hospital. She told me about her experiences overseeing spinal taps, which can be a very painful procedure, especially for young children. I wouldn't have the courage to witness it, but Dorothy does. Nursing is her passion. And were I a young kid with Leukemia or MS, I would want someone with true courage on my team, someone who wouldn't get overwhelmed by the site of blood, urine, feces, vomit or the smell of death. I may be able to tell you jokes and laugh you back to health, or ease you into death, but someone has to get their hands dirty, and that's Dorothy.

Dorothy represents a special kind of person in the medical community; someone with both heart and courage. I salute her as the angel she is. And not all doctors are Satanic cultists who eat baby livers at pagan barbecues in hell. I think that demonizing the medical profession in the Schiavo event is not the answer when so many people are alive today because of modern medicine. Terri is alive today, fifteen years after her "real" death not because of Jeb Bush, pro-lifers, or Christianity, but by the caring efforts and courage of people like Dorothy and others in her profession. Let's not forget that we don't have to become religious zealots just to appreciate life, to care, or to love somebody.

The courage of medical practitioners must sometimes also extend to ending life when it seems ethical to do so. Put yourself in Terri's shoes; disregard her parents because they are thinking of their own suffering during and after her death, when she is gone from their lives. It's even possible that she may just be a pawn in their denial of death.

Ultimately, Terri Schiavo is alive today because others have the means to override her body's request for death. Modern medicine has turned her into a version of the disembodied head living in a jar as is sometimes depicted in cartoons. Except Terri is a headless body living in a hospital bed, kept alive at the whim of those who cannot decide whose interests are better served: their own, or their daughter's.

One thing's for sure, if I were the occupying soul in that body, I would have left long ago. Any true believer in the soul knows we cannot kill "her" spiritually any more than we can heal her by sticking a tube in her gut for another fifteen years. She truly is in the hands of providence because we can't heal her; we can only ensure she has a pulse. But is that living? And for whom?

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

Michael Schiavo and Terri's doctors have finally conceded to let nature do what it had intended fifteen years earlier: to end her life. But that means they must forcefully resist postponing her death; to not interfere with natural law; to not play God to a life that is long over. Again, I couldn't do it, but someone has to have the courage to make those tough decisions.

In the end, no one is killing Terri Schiavo; they have merely stopped interfering in her death.

The great irony in all of this is that Terri Schiavo is in a vegetative state today because of a rumoured "eating disorder" which caused her heart to fail, leading to her irreparable brain damage. That means she led a life of starving herself out of vanity and fear of rejection — or, as is often the case, as an act of defiance against excessive parental control. Today, she is starving to death again; something she would have done quite willingly to herself while conscious of both her actions and the value of her existence. And once again, she's doing it against her parents will.

Now isn't that a predestined karmic kick in the head!

See you in eternity, pending future confirmation.
Roland Kriewaldt

P.S. For those interested in learning about the growing science behind reincarnation, I recommend beginning the journey by reading Many Lives, Many Masters, a book by psychologist, Brian L. Weiss. And remember, good Christians don't start wars; blessed are the peacemakers. Don't let the suits fool ya!


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