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Terry Schiavo
2005-01-24 - 11:42 p.m.


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Sometimes when I write something, and for whatever reason, the internet eats it, I just assume its fate, and I let it go. 


Mostly, this is what I do.  Its like something interceded and said, "NO."


So, I'll write about something else.


The Terry Schaivo case out of Florida repulses me.


I have no problem with Christianity, or any systemic belief system, per' se'.  Some people need that, and it is what it is.


The problem comes with organized religion in that so many of these institutions seek to make others believe and conform to their set of beliefs.  And that's where I have a problem.


Believe what you want to believe, but don't force your beliefs on someone else.


Now, I could argue a lot of finer points of religion and philosophy, but I digress at this point.  Its far too broad and omniterpretable topic for my desire to cover in any sort of statement right now.


But when one person's belief system contradicts the expressed will of another, and in such a process, proceeds to cause extreme prolonged misery it is repugnant.  One must examine their core beliefs and think, "Is this really what its all about?"


I'll put it another way, 'Do I really think Jesus wanted this woman to suffer so for interminable years on end?'


I think the only logical answer is 'no'. 


Christians, like most dogmatic faiths, hearken to their belief system, and get hung up on the rules, forgetting the essential truths upon which their religion was to be founded.  Love for all mankind.  Peace.


Christ was a revolutionary espousing teachings like this.  He overturned the money-changers in the temples and beat them with whips.  He was incredibly ahead of his time, modern in his approach, and walked the world in extremely barbaric times.  Openly showing love for a stranger was a thought that was far beyond the reckoning of the day.


And over the years, the writings of his works and words have been manipulated and massaged to serve the manifest use of political leaders and power mongers across western civilization.  But I would have to imagine that, being a teacher, Christ would much rather have someone who professed to follow his teachings absorb the core value of what he taught.


They have shown that woman no love in prolonging her life painfully and needlessly.  Her expressed wish prior to this mishap was that she would rather not live a life like that.


Instead, the Christian right trumped up slanted videos of her and her parents, which seem to indicate some sort of intelligence, but are, in fact, a sham.  She has been in, and is still in a vegetative state.  This is stated by her doctors.  She will not recover.  She will only suffer, fed through a tube into her stomach.


Her parents, bless them, love their daughter madly.  It is difficult, sometimes, to gauge and understand a parents love.  It can be a deep and powerful thing.


But in this case, it is terribly misguided, and the intensity of their misunderstanding, grief, and denial are only fostered by the Christian right, who contradict their teachings of morality by prolonging suffering and creating lies to support their dogmatic point of view, making this person believe as they would have her believe, live as they would have her live, instead of staying true to what she felt was true, and that was a desire not to live a life like this.


Furthurmore, they have interceded and attempted to strip the spouse's rights away, the traditional inheritor of power of attorney.  They even breifly tried a smear campaign against the man.  Its disgusting and reprehensible.


And then Jeb Bush courts the religious right by grandstanding for such a case.  All for his own self centered cause.


It is a sad, sad, shameful thing to see.


I am no arbiter of morality.  But I think it is an inherent right to respect someone's wishes should they come to pass to that state of affairs in her life.


And I find the behavior of everyone surrounding this poor woman in their crusade to needlessly prolong her life absolutely abhorrent.


 


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