This is my first blog post ever on Terri Schiavo. I haven't written about her because I felt like there was not anything I could add to it. Also, ever since I learned about Mrs. Schiavo, I thought things looked fairly hopeless. My defeatist attitude kept me silent, and for that I should be ashamed.
The other night, I was watching my favorite episode of the Twilight Zone. It's called "The Obsolete Man" and it stars Burgess Meredith and Fritz Weaver. I think it's my favorite because the message it gives is so pro-life. I won't go into what it's about because it will sway me from my main point, but I will tell you the last line of the episode. This line is what makes it my favorite episode:
"Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete."
Every day, our children giggle at the kids who have to ride the special bus for the handicapped children. Our doctors strongly suggest to parents who don't know better that their children will have some sort of dehabilitating disease or deformity, and that they should kill their child to save themselves the inconvenience. Elderly members of society are thrown into homes to be forgotten by their children. Our way of thinking about eachother is obsolete.
As Terri Schiavo, at the time that I'm writing this, now begins to slowly die of starvation, we need to rethink our obsolete ways, and teach our children to think differently too. It seems that there will always be bigotry in this fallen world, but the culture of death is probably the most bigoted culture we have cultivated so far. It discriminates not on the color of skin or social status, but on wether one person is inconvenient to another in some way. If our society is a society where inconvenient people are obsolete, then we might as well just start blowing away our annoying co-workers. Pretty soon, there will be nobody left.
How did we get to the point where we now are allowing a woman to starve to death without even viaticum to comfort her? I believe that it's because we live in a world that no longer knows how to love. We're so selfish that we forgot that sacrificing for eachother is what love is really all about. Sacrificing time, prayers, our own lives for eachother. We would rather have the short moments of pleasure that selfishness grants us then the intense long and burning pain that suffering through love can cause us. Now, a man who finds his wife inconvenient, and our legal system will have a new and terrible stain of blood on their hands. Until we change, we will be left like Lady Macbeth saying with futility "Out, damn spot."
But like lady Macbeth, the spot will not be on our hands, but on our souls. Let us pray to God to teach us what true love is. While you go to mass to pray for Terri, while you fast, remember to pray for the collective souls of a nation which is willing to kill a woman this way. Pray that God doesn't find us obsolete, and spares his hand so that we can repent of this terrible crime.
I still feel like I haven't said anything worthwhile, but this is what I can offer for now, I pray that it inspires something in somebody.
Very worthwhile reading.
Why should we be fighting against the "mercy killing" of Terri Schaivo? Because it is the "Roe V Wade" of Euthanasia. Some of us recognize that. Those who are pushing hard for her death recognize that also. The public (of a Florida town) is paying for a 24 hour police guard on the door of her hospice.
May God give us all the grace, courage and strength to challenge this travesty of justice. Email your (federal) congressional representatives and Senators!
Remember: "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"
What one must realize is that society truly has not changed, but rather it has changed clothes. This is how it has always been. Those of privilege has more often than not acted with apathy, (or more accurately, not acted at all,) or even acted with malice to those who are less fortunate. In the time of begging cults, those that were social misfits were cast out, murdered, or, if the populace was feeling especially generous, they were honorably sacrificed to the primitive god. In ancient roam they would be slaughtered out right, or pitted against each other for the chance to live another day.
The afore mentioned ?privileged,? however, doesn?t necessarily mean those with more power or wealth. There is a story of a feudal lord in the dark ages; he went hunting one day with one of his serfs. Though the lord was not cruelly to his underling, he was not generous either. The story goes that this lord stayed most of is time in his hold, and he made the serfs tend the land. One day, however, the lord grew restless and decided to go out hunting. He thought it wise to take the servant with the most knowledge of the land, for he would surely know where the best sport was. As they road through the woods, they came upon a thick growth of vegetation. The servant told the lord that this was an ideal spot to begin the hunt. The lord dismounted and proceeded to walk off the edge of a sudden drop that was hard to see for all the undergrowth. Now the servant knew of that steep incline, however, thought it would be more convenient to let his master die by his own blunder rather than warn him and have to continue servitude under his apathetic liege.
Another story, YOU actually told me Bob, that shows indifference of human life on both parties, is that of the barbers apprentice. Once upon a time, around the renaissance period, there was a barber? who had an apprentice. This apprentice was a rather quick study and could cut hair in all of the fashionable styles. He could also trim beards and moustaches with remarkable skill. The only thing he did not do well, was shaving a man clean. Well one day while the barber was away, a very influential noble came in.
?Hello,? said the apprentice.
?I need a shave immediately.? Said the noble with no more ado than that.
?Pardon milord,? said the youth, ?but my master is away and he is the only one who can shave a man clean.?
?Can?t you?? said the noble.
?Not without cutting the man,? the boy replied.
?You can, and you shall,? snapped the noble. ?For I must be at an important appointment post haste. And you shall not cut me, boy, or I shall kill you where you stand.? said the aristocrat, brandishing his pistol.
The boy who suspected the courtier was going to see a mistress, wanted to be discreet, yet also wish to look good. Thus he sat the man in the chair, sharpened his razor, and began to shave him. In fifteen minutes time, the noble had received the best, and closest shave of his life.
?Impressive,? said the man, ?but weren?t you nervous.?
?I don?t see why I should?ve been.?
?Because I would have killed you if you even nicked me.?
?No, I don?t believe you would have. For if I felt the blade slip, or hear you cry out in pain, I simply would have slit your throat where you sat and been done with you.?
The point I?m trying to illustrate with this long-winded reply is that, people have always vicious, merciless creatures, who will usually look after there own interests, even at the cost of another human life. Now a days, however, we have laws that supposedly protect us from each other. Except now that we cant actively peruse the demise of our fellow man, we can only hope that life will see fit to fire them, and that we may take some of the riches they left here on this earth.
I am in no way condoning these actions or this attitude, but simply stating that they have existed since man realized that he could take his neighbors? stuff by killing them. I do recognize your point that it is high time that we left these out-modish and barbaric inclinations. I agree that it is time that we recognize our fellow men as that, another human being, with no less worth than ourselves. We should try to exude all that Christ has bestowed upon us, and harvest and share love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, thankfulness, faithfulness, and self-control. Thusly we may ourselves inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Well, I think that I have seriously overused your reply space. Thank you for posting, and thank you reading my reply. See ya at school.