Schiavo Divides

Let me take up a leg from Jimmi's column, in relation to the Schiavo fiasco, where he writes "we kill what we don't understand." This is an over-simplification. No one wanted Terri Schiavo's death, not in terms of her own individuation, and this includes the much maligned husband, whose detractors were thrown  the paean I mentioned last month. This stupendous national quarrel was an argument over human dignity, and whether that involved survival at all costs, or a compassionate release. The latter argument won, validated in as far as the forensic evidence indicated this woman's identity had vanished upon her first collapse; even if the activists were not entirely wrong, however, what was the point of all this? My retarded sister was not much higher up on the cognitive functionality chart. She suffered for her twenty-two years. This issue is not going to go away, but for the significantly absent, as writers like Byatt illustrate (re: Little Black Book of Stories) it is more about what those of us still present, self-aware, project. The Christian right does not get a charity luncheon for its conscience. They blind themselves in relation to the quality of life issues here, and death with dignity is a valid argument. Always will be.