It’s NOT the SYSTEM, it’s US

Many right now are blaming the system. They are blaming the courts, the judges, the politicians, even the President. Pick up a mirror, folks. The system is US; “We the People.”

At first I thought, there is nothing to say…..nothing left to write. I found myself haunted by the image of Terri’s “EXIT PROTOCOL.” I imagined her confused, scared, fighting. I recalled Katherine Adamson’s story. How can THIS be happening in America? What has happened?

America has changed. We are nothing like our forefathers. We are pathetic in comparison to the generation that endured the Great Depression. We are cowards in light of those that fought the evils of Hitler. The days of American idealism rooted in an avid fight for LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS have long passed. Today it is all about being POPULAR. The lures of fame, power, money, and affluence have become the cornerstone of our ambitions.

Even some of those that fight FOR Terri are wrapped up in the seduction of attention. I witnessed it for myself. I am talking about the ones that were dressed to a T, every hair in place, and rushing to every camera and microphone they could find.

Those truly fighting FOR Terri- have been fighting far before the cameras showed up. They had been begging and pleading for the media to start covering this and start doing the research. All the documents that I have had and read were distributed to the media back in 2003. Until the feeding tube was actually pulled, media didn’t want to do anything but talk to the family. They weren’t interested in doing any INVESTIGATING. NONE!

So how does this all come back to US? Why do you think the media showed up at the Hospice AFTER the feeding tube was pulled? This is the ULTIMATE REALITY TV SHOW! It has all the drama, politics, religion, and mystery. The media did not cover this as NEWS, they covered it as REALITY TV. How did we get to be a society where THIS is ENTERTAINMENT?

Most of us grew up learning the history of the Revolution, the Civil War and World War II when it was taught in a way that was based in America’s belief in the Constitution. We knew that not all was well, but we also still had a strong foundation of believing that we were ultimately good. We just trusted it. We know nothing about REAL struggle. We know nothing about a country pulling together despite differences in the interest of protecting what our country was founded upon.

All this has changed. We are IMMERSED in sound-bites. We are defined by political parties. Even those that KNOW the difference between liberal and democrat or republican and conservative fall into this trap. I think at times even I have. It is a daily struggle to resist the pop-culture we are engulfed in. It is a daily struggle to resist the temptation to justify evil with talk of relativism. Some use pure logic, some use pure emotion. Some debate morals, some debate law.

Bottom line. We are LAZY, folks. We have bought into the rhetoric of both sides. We have allowed the people running for office to DUPE us. We don’t do our homework. We are too busy. Who has time? We say “They are ALL liars.” We become ONE-issue voters.

They are not ALL liars. People do not pay attention at the local level. When this happens, the one with the most money usually wins. Their name becomes “familiar.” We all tend to trust something more familiar more than something not familiar. Ask yourself, “How do the ones with the most money, get the most money?” Answer: They are supported by those willing to give out BIG BUCKS to further their agendas. I have seen it! The simple everyday person doesn’t shop the candidates and donate. At least not enough of them to compete with the BIG money. DIRTY campaigns, as much as we claim not to like them, are very effective. So who do WE end up putting into office? Then as “parties,” who do we run against the other guy? Not the BEST guy, the guy that can win.

In America, WE have a HABIT of going about our business, not rocking the boat, until it is too late. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 are PERFECT examples. We wait until there are dead bodies, lots of them. We wait for the images that shock us. Even then, many of us don’t want to look. If we are prepared to see the death, we sometimes are still not affected! It is when it is a SHOCK that we seem to “wake up.”

What if this was not about just Terri? What if this was about going into a facility that housed, say, 300 people and not just one woman? What if we were heading into the facility and saying, “Hey, we need to just starve them all to death. They have no quality of life. They have no Living Wills. They all have at least one family member that can remember them watching a movie and saying- ‘I wouldn’t want to live that way.’- Besides, they are just draining the heck out of Medicaid and Medicare. Extensive testing? That costs money, and time. We did CAT scans. MRI’s and PET’s? Nahhhh, the doctors say they are needed to determine the TRUE condition of them, but the guardians have denied these tests be done. Again, time and money. Their rights? HONEY, they have NO RIGHTS! THEY HAVE NO VOICE. THE GUARDIAN IS THE VOICE. THE GUARDIAN HAS THE RIGHTS.”

What if it were not Terri, but a Cameron Diaz or Britney Spears? We would DEMAND that they be given every possible test, every possible therapy. What if instead of 300, it was 3,000 people?

All in the same day, and MAYBE you WOULD be upset. Before we EVER wake up, the body count will be above 3,000. IF we EVER wake up.

It’s not the system………..it’s US!