Terri

Terri Schiavo dies [Guardian, W. Post]

I guess the Bible nuts will have to save their sanctity of life bullshit for some other ridiculous battle. I hope it's over, anyway, if only for now. I'm tired of reading about it.

I'm not sure why this kind of thing gets to me so much. I guess what bothers me most of all is the spectacle of public and government involvement in such a private issue. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to make such a decision, to have to decide that your wife——or at least someone who was once your wife——should pass away, to finally let go. And then to have the government and a bunch of weak-minded fools try to tell you that you're wrong, that she must live! For what? For God and Jesus and because we're humans and we're so fucking great that we can't bear to see the lives of other humans come to an end? Not through some horrible act of violence, not through some great tragedy, but from nature. No, they'd rather hold on as long as possible, even to lives devoid of what makes life worth anything at all.

Oh, her poor parents. They didn't want to lose their little girl. I can understand that and I don't blame them. They could still talk to her and look at her and pretend that she was still Terri from before. It's sad to think about and I feel for them, but it also kind of shows you how selfish people can be. They weren't keeping Terri alive for Terri's sake, fighting for her “right to life” as they say; they were keeping her alive because they weren't ready or able to let her go.

And so what if she looked like she was smiling? Maybe she was showing you how unafraid she was to move on. Maybe she was trying to tell you that it's ok to let go sometimes.