Terri Shiavo
Well, Terri Shiavo died today and I cried. This morning we were listening to Fox News before Terri died. One of the reporters was interviewing the Shiavo's priest and the reporter commented that it must be difficult watching Terri die. That really ticked me off, because we (the nation) weren't just watching someone die - we were watching Terri be murdered by a "husband" who had moved on with his life long ago.
We have all seen and heard stories about people's journeys through the valley of the shadow - but this was and is different. This was the story of a young woman being slowly tortured to death while the whole nation watched. This was a young woman with parents who loved her so dearly. Yet they were denied the right to even be by her side as she slipped from this life. Oh, but her "husband" was by her side when she died. He refused to let her parents and siblings be there to comfort her and to reassure her of their love for her as she was breathing her last breath. He let them come into the room after she died. That is just about the cruelest thing I've ever heard. I can't even imagine if that was one of our kids. The worst thing most people can imagine is losing one of their kids - to lose them the way the Shindlers lost Terri is almost unthinkable.
So, my boss said to me, "that really drives home the need to have a living will". I agree with that, but even living wills can't anticipate every possible scenario that we might find ourselves in before we meet Jesus face to face. Living will or no -I don't want anyone making decisions about my life unless they are obviously committed to what is the very best thing for me. My parents, my kids would probably fall into that category. My husband also would, unless he runs off and starts a life with someone else. Wouldn't that be considered a conflict of interest?
Anyway, the whole thing was very sad to me. I was sad for Terri but especially sad for her mom and dad. Those poor people have really been through it these past years. The news reports of them begging for their daughter's life was about more than I could take.
Sorry this is so depressing
We have all seen and heard stories about people's journeys through the valley of the shadow - but this was and is different. This was the story of a young woman being slowly tortured to death while the whole nation watched. This was a young woman with parents who loved her so dearly. Yet they were denied the right to even be by her side as she slipped from this life. Oh, but her "husband" was by her side when she died. He refused to let her parents and siblings be there to comfort her and to reassure her of their love for her as she was breathing her last breath. He let them come into the room after she died. That is just about the cruelest thing I've ever heard. I can't even imagine if that was one of our kids. The worst thing most people can imagine is losing one of their kids - to lose them the way the Shindlers lost Terri is almost unthinkable.
So, my boss said to me, "that really drives home the need to have a living will". I agree with that, but even living wills can't anticipate every possible scenario that we might find ourselves in before we meet Jesus face to face. Living will or no -I don't want anyone making decisions about my life unless they are obviously committed to what is the very best thing for me. My parents, my kids would probably fall into that category. My husband also would, unless he runs off and starts a life with someone else. Wouldn't that be considered a conflict of interest?
Anyway, the whole thing was very sad to me. I was sad for Terri but especially sad for her mom and dad. Those poor people have really been through it these past years. The news reports of them begging for their daughter's life was about more than I could take.
Sorry this is so depressing