Far From Neutral Notions - Philippine politics, culture and stuff

It’s been the pet cause for right-to-die and pro-life proponents alike, and the most bitter aspect of the whole drama is the incessant posturing of both sides, using her life and death as examples for their rhetoric. What happened to Terri Shiavo is a tragedy, no matter which way you look at it, and it should not be used, as US Representative Dan Gelber put it, in political football. I’m actually amazed anyone could be so firm in their position with this case; I sure as hell am not. What would you do if that happened to your wife or daughter, honestly?

Major Tom said that the Terri case should have been a case for hope, hope of something positive to come, hope that she might still be rehabilitated fully or partially, hope that given a few more months to live something good might happen, hope that earlier diagnosis was a mistake after all, and even hope that miracles do happen. It would have been one helluva feel good story, wouldn’t it, if, a month from now, Terri woke up. But what if she didn’t, after a month? Wait some more? Terri’s husband and parents have been waiting for 15 years. On one hand you have the husband saying Terri wouldn’t want to live like a vegetable, and her parents saying she’d recover. Whom to believe?

Does it matter?

I wouldn’t want to be kept alive by a machine. And I wouldn’t want my parents to go through what Terri’s family did. I know where I stand when it comes to my life. But on the flipside, had this happened to someone I love, I’d wait, too. I’d gosh-badoodles hope like crazy.

I just pray I never have to.

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