Straight Up with Sherri

Thursday, March 24, 2005

If Terri Schiavo Could Talk

Here is a very COMPELLING column By Tom Purcell.

I am honored to consider Tom a friend and am thrilled to introduce some of you to his fine work. Even Rush Limbaugh has commented on Tom. Take time to visit his site and read more of his articles.



If Terri Schiavo Could Talk


I’ve been humbled and amazed that my life could generate so much attention and discussion, but please don’t worry about me.

No matter what happens to me -- and I may be gone before you even read this -- I’ll be well. If my feeding tube is reinserted and I live, I’ll be surrounded by people who love me. If I die, I’ll go to a better place, where I’ll wait patiently to be rejoined by the people I love so much.

No, it is America I am worried about.

A Fox News poll showed that 59% of Americans believe my feeding tube should be removed. I’m not on a respirator, mind you, but merely need nourishment to live, and yet many Americans are eager to withhold my food and water until my body slowly shuts down.

The “reasoning” behind this thinking is what is troublesome. If you were in my situation, some of you say, you wouldn’t want to go on living, and that is your justification for letting me die.

Others among you won’t say it aloud, but you view me as an inconvenience. In your minds you compare me to your elderly parents or grandparents who may require extraordinary love and care one day -- sacrifices you’re too selfish to make.

So you determine that if I am not 100% of what I was -- if part of my brain is damaged and I cannot take care of myself -- then I should be left to die. You feel this way, even though I clearly display a level of awareness, and even though my voice and facial expressions show that part of me is still there.

I think you are willing to believe I should be left to die because you have become a cynic. Your cynical worldliness blinds you to the fact that I am a human of extraordinary blessings.

Look at the love that surrounds me every single day. My parents, sister and brother adore me, nurture me and shower me with compassion. It is a gift that I wish everyone could experience.

I have given to them, too. Yes, they wish I was healthy and vibrant and had a family of my own. But the tragedy that befell me brought us all together -- it brought out a depth of love they did not know they were capable of.

Millions go to bed praying for me every night, and you have no idea how this calms my soul. I feel the pull of their spirits connecting me more closely with our God, who I know is watching over me.

Of course, the cynics among you say that if God existed, He never would have let such a tragedy befall me, but there you go again.

Whether or not you understand it, every human life has meaning and purpose -- even a life like mine. God works in mysterious ways -- ways that no human can fully grasp. And maybe this has been my purpose in this life.

Maybe God is letting my “husband,” with the full sanction of the courts, rush me to my end to see how you respond. Maybe it’s time that a country that celebrates individual freedoms and rights rethinks how the most vulnerable among us are treated.

Maybe God is using my pain and suffering to remind us all that there is nothing more precious than life, and that all life should be treated with dignity and compassion, as my family has done so beautifully.

Maybe God is trying to remind us all that it is His role, not ours, to determine when life shall be taken. And make no mistake, withholding food and water is tantamount to taking life.

I don’t know why this fate has befallen me, but please don’t worry about me. It is hard for some to see, but I’ve been very blessed. It is you I worry about.


Tom Purcell

14 Comments:

  • Doctor Says Examination Changed His Mind

    "He generally has a reasonably thoughtful, conservative Christian right-to-life perspective," said David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford University Center of Biomedical Ethics. "He definitely is not a neutral party with respect to these culture wars. He has turf to defend."


    So if a doctor has a "right-to-die" agenda it's okay, and we should take his word on whether to slowly starve someone to death?

    But if a well-respected doctor is a conservative and a christian, we shouldn't listen to him?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:35 PM  

  • Sherri, you around? I'm hearing that there might be another hearing, on the new medical evidence?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:35 PM  

  • There is a hearing with Whittemore at 6:00pm

    But I am getting conflicting stories about what this hearing is for...

    some say it is about the DCF thing-- others say it is from the parents...

    THIS IS THE CRAZIEST I have ever seen info being...

    By Blogger Straight Up with Sherri, at 4:41 PM  

  • The reports I am getting is that Whittemore wanted to hear the case again.... GIbbs was not prepared last time, and it seems that Whittemore was pretty clear (telling Gibbs what to fix) about what was wrong with the motion....

    I am not posting it as a thread because I have not been able to verify it yet...

    Thay may not want to give Felos a decent heads up, or theis could be totally wrong info...

    just have to wait and see...

    By Blogger Straight Up with Sherri, at 4:48 PM  

  • rush me to my end

    LOL, you can't make up this stuff

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:52 PM  

  • Sherri, thank you. That was beautiful.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:55 PM  

  • I don't know...
    When a man asks for $20 million so he can care for his wife for then next 50 years, and then starts looking for a burial plot within a years or so, and then starts plotting to starve her within 5 years.... I think 6 years compared to 50 is a bit of a rush...

    dying at 41 vs 78 is a bit of a rush...

    RWNJ

    I think Tom IS SUPERB!

    I admire him also....

    By Blogger Straight Up with Sherri, at 4:57 PM  

  • floridaheat...

    THANK TOM!!!

    Great guy!!

    He usually writes humor, this was a HUGE thing for him to step into this fray...

    He has great respect from me...

    I also love his writing...

    By Blogger Straight Up with Sherri, at 4:58 PM  

  • HEY! Charles posted a Terri thread!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:19 PM  

  • From latest AP release:

    The Schindlers planned to appear before a federal judge in Tampa on Thursday evening to make another emergency request that the feeding tube be reattached while the parents pursue their claims that Schiavo's religious and due-process rights were violated. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore previously rejected a similar request.

    Gibbs and company really really need to come up with a new angle, and stop re-using the same arguments that have been repeatedly rejected by the courts all week.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:23 PM  

  • From latest AP release:

    The Schindlers planned to appear before a federal judge in Tampa on Thursday evening to make another emergency request that the feeding tube be reattached while the parents pursue their claims that Schiavo's religious and due-process rights were violated. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore previously rejected a similar request.

    Gibbs and company really really need to come up with a new angle, and stop re-using the same arguments that have been repeatedly rejected by the courts all week.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:38 PM  

  • Just curious: Did anyone else besides me send a telegram?

    I know it seems old-fashioned, but good ol' Western Union still sends them. You can send telegrams over the Internet at http://westernunion.com and pay on-line with a credit card.

    I think the 6:00 EST deadline for delivery by Friday is over, though.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:17 PM  

  • Gov. Greer is in total control now, Jeb is such a wimp.
    Marine Momma

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:42 PM  

  • I also beleive that everone has a perpose in life and as americans will all have a lot to worry about and think about people that we affect in any given situation. I beleive that you will make it and may god bless you and keep you. always
    pw D00558989

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:06 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home