Don't make me live when I'm no longer alive
The news has been dominated by the Terri Schiavo case lately. Suddenly everyone on the right is getting involved in this persons life.
Let me start off by saying that I have long held that I would never want to be kept 'alive' by artifical means. If my brain is gone, that is I cannot function without machines making things happen, or I have to be fed and forced to do something to stay 'alive', I do not wish to be.
Why?
Because, that's not living.
As I understand the experts, Terri Shiavo's brain went bad on her in 1990 when she stopped breathing. A result of an eating disorder problem. She fried her brain chemistry and then did more damage when it did not get air. Since then her condition has become worse. The footage we see on TV is really not current. It is from about that same time, when she may have been a little more reactive. I'd like to have the media showing her in something more real time, perhaps that might let people see how she is now and the might understand the situation better.
I do feel for her mother and I hear her comment from last Wednesday when she said, "When I close my eyes, all I see is Terri dying." It must be very difficult on her to see her daughter in the condition she is. No parent wants to outlive their child. I do wonder though, if her concern was so dire, so strong that she was going to every level of court back when her daughter was in the midst of her eating disorder. Or was she like many parents, unaware of it.
I find it interesting that while President Bush was Governor of Texas, he signed a bill which permits hospitals to take folks off life support if they do not have the means to pay for care by extraordinary means.
I also find it interesting and disturbing that he claims now, as he did during the campaign that he believes in a society of life, yet sent 1500 plus soldiers to their death in Iraq and kills who know how many of Iraqs' people in this war. A war, based on a lie.
I find it interesting how the Republicians who have long held that they were the party that was in favor of smaller Government, less intrusion into personel lives, believers in States Rights, would overstep and get into a State issue.
I digress...
I was thinking about living, and what it means to be alive. I realized that each person really makes up their own mind on what that means. For me it means a whole litany of things.
Let me start off by saying that I have long held that I would never want to be kept 'alive' by artifical means. If my brain is gone, that is I cannot function without machines making things happen, or I have to be fed and forced to do something to stay 'alive', I do not wish to be.
Why?
Because, that's not living.
As I understand the experts, Terri Shiavo's brain went bad on her in 1990 when she stopped breathing. A result of an eating disorder problem. She fried her brain chemistry and then did more damage when it did not get air. Since then her condition has become worse. The footage we see on TV is really not current. It is from about that same time, when she may have been a little more reactive. I'd like to have the media showing her in something more real time, perhaps that might let people see how she is now and the might understand the situation better.
I do feel for her mother and I hear her comment from last Wednesday when she said, "When I close my eyes, all I see is Terri dying." It must be very difficult on her to see her daughter in the condition she is. No parent wants to outlive their child. I do wonder though, if her concern was so dire, so strong that she was going to every level of court back when her daughter was in the midst of her eating disorder. Or was she like many parents, unaware of it.
I find it interesting that while President Bush was Governor of Texas, he signed a bill which permits hospitals to take folks off life support if they do not have the means to pay for care by extraordinary means.
I also find it interesting and disturbing that he claims now, as he did during the campaign that he believes in a society of life, yet sent 1500 plus soldiers to their death in Iraq and kills who know how many of Iraqs' people in this war. A war, based on a lie.
I find it interesting how the Republicians who have long held that they were the party that was in favor of smaller Government, less intrusion into personel lives, believers in States Rights, would overstep and get into a State issue.
I digress...
I was thinking about living, and what it means to be alive. I realized that each person really makes up their own mind on what that means. For me it means a whole litany of things.
- Singing with my Church Choir.
- Watching my favorite TV shows.
- Having a political voice and expressing it.
- Breathing on my own.
- Walking my dogs.
- Writing this blog and other writing work that I do.
- Building things.
- Enjoying cooking and or eating a fine meal.
- Watching a sunset or a beautiful sunrise.
- Learning something new about life, living, myself or the world around me.
- Playing word games.
- Reading.
- Listening to music by Mozart, Tim Story, Bill Douglas and others.
and the list goes on. Every moment of today I have had this thought about what I am doing is living and how I am alive.
Actually, it's been a very wonderful day.
posted by Both Sides of My Brain at 5:29 PM
