The Legacy of the Terri Schiavo Story

Posted by Craig

By the time this post is read, Terri Schiavo could well have been dead. A horrible ending of being starved to death, the body desiring food, but none to be given. The protestors may have gone home. The family moved on to the remembrance service, Michael Schiavo wants Terri cremated. But what is the legacy of this story? What will we say five years after this event? More than likely we will have moved on to other stories, something bigger and greater. We will find new ways to criticize the government in either their overuse, or apathetic approach to do nothing. And in all this, the big picture will be missed; a woman will be dead, gone for all eternity.

I first heard about this story a year ago. At the time, I didn’t take much notice, but I felt that this woman was cleaved to her husband, and he has say over her life. When you’re married, you leave your family to be one with your spouse. That being said, I felt that Michael knew what was best for his wife. But as this case has gained more notoriety, I too have gained more interest. And I must admit, my ideals are cloudier now than ever before.

From reports that I have either read or heard, Terri was simply left on a feeding tube, the only foreign system to keep her alive. A basic need that all people have to have to survive. If I stopped eating for a week, I too would die, and I am not confined to a bed. Maybe Michael and Terri discussed being kept alive by machines, and her desire not to be so, but what is considered a machine? Does the breathing machine count, what about a machine to keep the heart beating, how about a feeding tube? At this point, I can’t argue which is and which isn’t, I can only feel sorrow for the family that must say goodbye to their daughter not thinking everything possible that could have been done was.

But beyond this story of loss, lives an uglier, nastier story, the comparison of these events and abortion and even gay marriage. These stories are not relevant, and are only attempts to deflect the fact that once again they are on the wrong side of humanity. The Democrats call themselves the party of the people that they care about what you want. Well, apparently death is what you want, because it seems that is what they are pushing. They want death for unborn children, and death for people who have no say. Believe me when I say that these issues are surrounded in gray areas, but condemnation of individuals that have no say is not an area in which I choose to exist.

The Terri Schiavo case is not about Abortion! The Terri Schiavo case is not about Gay Marriage! The Terri Schiavo case isn’t about government abuse, as referenced in this story about Elian Gonzalez! The Terri Schiavo case is about a husband who feels he knows best for his wife. The Terri Schiavo case is about a family who after this week will never feel the warm touch of their daughter and sister. The Terri Schiavo case is about the most basic of human emotions, the desire to express the feeling that "I know what’s best".