Thank God it's over! That's all I could say upon hearing the news that Terri Schiavo had passed away. Quietly, I said a prayer for both Terri and her family while working. Yet the suspicions, doubt and slander continued from the lips of Priest and Clergy whom seem more intent on judging than consoling, hating instead of loving and politicizing the issue when understanding the personal pain was more appropriate. Again, after Terri's passing, we heard the rhetoric continue when Jeb Bush ordered an investigation into the reported delay in the EMS call that Michael made on that evening that Terri collapsed. The spetctical of Congress passing an unconstitutional law on Palm Sunday, which was the signed by President Bush, was clearly a concession to the far right for delivering this President to the White house.
Today Michael Schiavo received recognition for the faithful (I want to stress the word faithful because that has more religious significance than any Priest or Clergy's sermon on living in faith) way that he fulfilled his obligation as a guardian for his wife, Terri. From the Orlando Sentinel:
The Florida State Guardianship Association bestowed its Guardian of the Year Award on Schiavo for carrying out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially despite a drumbeat of withering criticism.
Well I guess that the right wing will of course say that these are activist judges that have a liberal political agenda, support abortion and euthanasia!
Association members, most of whom are appointed by judges to represent people who have been declared incapacitated, acknowledged Schiavo was a controversial choice and they anticipate a backlash. After all, Gov. Jeb Bush joined world leaders from the president to the pope in aligning themselves with Bob and Mary Schindler, the Pinellas County couple who fought their son-in-law's effort to remove the feeding tube that kept their severely brain-damaged daughter alive for 15 years.
Added past President Joan Nelson Hook, an attorney from New Port Richey: "He was an ordinary guardian who carried out his duties in extraordinary ways."
Can any of us imagine going through this for 15 years? Can any of us honestly say that we would have fought tooth and nail against those who sought create a poster child out of Terri for the right to life movement and all of it's lies? It would have been far easier for Mr Schiavo to walk away, even take the 20 million that one group offered him to walk! If him staying in this fight isn't a statement of faithfulness and devotion, I just don't know what would be.
This was a personal, private matter that many of us have made in our lives. Yet no case like this has ever had so much public attention nor litigation. When religion interjects into the courts and the very personal issue of hospice and end of life care, it belongs in consoling and spiritual guidance, not in the Halls of Congress or on the Presidents desk.
Thank you Michael for your personal commitment to you wife. You have done well and I hope now that both you and Terri have peace. God bless.