[disclaimer]: I know many people other than me have thought about these things. Most of them are smarter than me too. I just needed to write about them myself and put my thoughts in public.
I like many people in the country have been following the legal battle involving Terri Schiavo. A few things about this case really bother me. The first one that enters my mind is what I would do in that situation. I would like to think that I could be rational if one of my loved ones was incapacitated in such a way. But I also know that complete rationality is impossible (*).
The second thing is that the media is making this into a spectacle. Can you imagine being faced with a situation like this in this political environment? Can you imagine being protested by hundreds for your decision (that you believe is best for your loved one even if other loved ones disagree)? I know the media only cares about selling advertising.
I also hate the way the anti-abortion lobby is trying to make this a pro-life issue. I guess it worries me that they are backing away from their own belief that life is a right. A right is something that can be given up, but in this case they are treating it like it is an obligation (**). (I have the right to free speech, but I can censor myself). I guess it just shatters my view that the pro-life movement is, for the most part, a rational one that just happens to differ from my personal view on morality, ethics and theology.
Another thing that scares me is that I see this case and Congress' involvement in it as a threat to marriage--and I mean to my own marriage. When I got married I chose to have my husband be my next-of-kin (***). I chose to trust him with such decisions on my behalf when I entered into that contract. That is what I believed when I married him. I don't like the fact that the government can change this out from under me. It just doesn't seem like something the Founding Fathers would approve of. I see this as a much more serious threat to marriage than same-sex marriage could ever be (****).
(*) Several times life-support issues and invasive life-extending issues came up within my family. I still don't know if I was rational, selfish or cowardly. It was too much of a shock. I only remember the pain.
(**) Yes, I am "borrowing" terminology from the story of Ramon Sampedro as seen in the film Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside).
(***)I do believe, for the record, that my blood relatives would honor my wishes just as my husband would.
(****) Yes, my views on gay marriage probably have a lot to do with the way my hippie-like parents raised me to appreciate people loving one another. I mean if you pick two people randomly in the world and they chose to love one another rather than hate one another I see it as a good thing.
I chose to trust him with such decisions on my behalf when I entered into that contract. That is what I believed when I married him. I don't like the fact that the government can change this out from under me. It just doesn't seem like something the Founding Fathers would approve of. I see this as a much more serious threat to marriage than same-sex marriage could ever be.
Amen. This is really driving me nuts, and I wish it was being pointed out in mainstream media.
Posted by: Laura at March 23, 2005 11:49 AMRational? The pro-lifers? Not really.
There are plenty of rational people who don't believe abortion is right, but the pro-life movement in America is not rational. It's very racist, very sexist, and very classist, and has nothing to do with "sanctity of life". It's about A) punishing women for having sex, and B) making sure white babies get born.
One thing that I've noticed, those times I've observed picket lines at family planning clinics (yes, several times), is that the protestors will never heckle a black woman. They'll let her through without comment. Friends of mine who have worked in the pro-choice movement have seen the same thing.
Plus, if it was about sanctity of life, then the pro-lifers wouldn't run false clinics that entrap women in red tape, or argue against contraception.
Posted by: Flewellyn at March 23, 2005 10:10 PM