Terri Schiavo

Kim du Toit echoes many of my thoughts about Terri Shiavo. A Small Victory has more. My God, I'm agreeing with athiests...

This isn't about Terri's wishes. It certainly isn't about anyone's rights. Michael Schiavo is the one with the rights here, not Terri (since Michael is her legal guardian) and certainly not the Schindlers. How many legal decisions have made that determination? A lot considering that he has won damn near every court case for 15 years. But the injuctions have kept coming.

No this is about politics and it is very dangerous. The Democrats want it so they can score points with the pro-lifers for once. The Republicans want it to flex their moral authority. But this won't just stop with one case. If the government can just waltz in and abridge Michael Schiavo's rights as guardian, it can do damn near anything it wants. Just because we don't like the guardian's decisions doesn't give us the necessary mandate required to strip a legal guardian of his rights.

There are a few things I don't agree with Kim on. For instance I do not believe that life is cheap. I am reminded of this passage from the guys at Penny Arcade:

When he told me this pregnancy thing was for real, triumphantly declaring that he "makes boys," I told him precisely what I thought - that any idiot is capable of this feat, and that - in actual point of fact - idiots engage in this kind of thing more than anyone else, which is why it can be so hard to get a decent cappuccino. I was being mean to him, it's kind of what I do, but he really was describing the most common, most ordinary event on our planet. There are two ways to interpret this.

The first way is to dismiss it, as I did initially.

The second way, the way that now seems apparent, is to recognize that the significance of an event isn't necessarily diluted by its frequency. Consider that we might live absolutely encompassed by marvels and wonders. I am suggesting that we are up to our asses in signs and portents that we are quick to omit or can't interpret.

This is not my usual state. I am making an exception.

However, even if life isn't cheap, it also isn't of infinite worth. Everyone who reads this will someday die. Life is a precious but perishable commodity. And the life of one must also be balanced against the lives of others. Like it or not, we have to spend it wisely. Is saving Terri Shiavo's life, such as it is, really worth the political tyranny it is causing? I doubt it.