I have posted some near inarticulate rants on the Shiavo case at a couple of sites in the last day or two. I whined about the political manouvering that Congress and others have managed over this. I have bemoaned our country's health care system. I have suggested that there is not enough money in this contry to support all those we could keep alive even if some agency wanted to. Dark thoughts.
I have also tried to be clear and suggest that, perhaps, the legal system is already set up to protect you if you take advantage of the advanced directives. No new legislation is necessary. What is necessary is awareness.
Shiavo is giving us the awareness of what happens in this country all the time. This is the reality of our world. We have chosen it. We have allowed for our laws to represent a multiplicity of choices. We have the right to sustain life and to let it go...to say when enough is enough. We have all that. What we forget is how painful that choice is for us. The seeming neutrality of the law in all of this clouds the truth that this is and will always be one of the most painful things you ever do. To let your loved die, even if it is in respect to their wishes, is hellish and awful. There is little to no consolation in it. As a country, I think we are starting to understand that now.
This issue has stepped out of the private lives of families and right onto the main stage of public opinion. This has its pros and cons to be certain. It is good that we are all talking about it. It is a shame that Terri, in spite of some interesting and challenging posting about personhood, might be seen less as a person now and more as an issue. But who knows. Maybe that is not the case.
I am tired of the fervor. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Jeb is asking Judge Greer to overturn his own decision (Judge Greer, by the way, may be looking for a new church. His SBC congregation has suggested in no uncertain terms that he is no longer welcome. That's the rumor on the streets.). I assume that Judge Greer is unlikely to admit to any mistake in his own ruling. And, I imagine, that the Judge has well articulated reasons.
I am also tired of the posturing that we bloggists are doing. I love that we can voice opinions about anything we want on the internet. It is a great gift, the freedom of speech. However, I have never seen so much assumed expertise as I have seen in this case. Starbucks baristas are looking at four minutes of video and suggesting that doctors don't know the work that they have spent the better part of their lives doing. Mandolinists are challenging lawyers on their understanding of the law...as if every lawyer would intentionally make a mistake to the harm of another human being and, I, with my many many minutes of reading the constitution online is in a better position to argue the merits of the case than someone who has spent years devoted to the document and its interpretation.
I have opinions, and preferences, but no matter if I like the decision or not, somehow I need to nod to the expertise. It seems impossible, however, and I have been unsuccessful at avoiding this trap. My humility has been dashed. I am clearly proud. I tried to leave my commenting to what I know. I am a hospital chaplain, a musician and church pastor. I have some theological training. I can tell you some things about medical ethics and am somewhat aquainted with the law. I am not educated enough on any of the above to be an expert. I am not the final word. I am able to rant and whine and bemoan, but that may be the end of it.
This does not mean that our opinions do not matter. But it would help if there was a little more trust out there. Are all 19 judges who have heard this case corrupt? Let's be real. That would be unlikely at best. Are all the politicians ignorant of the political climate, or of public perception? Again, they are professional politicians. Have lawyers forgotten the constitution? We may think so some days, but this too is unlikely.
Of course not.
But I seem to have forgotten that and have stopped trusting in those who do the above work. I am not an expert in much of anything. I seem to know just enough to get myself in trouble. I need water wings.
Posted by tripp at March 24, 2005 02:49 PMMy mother died of cancer. She had signed a
paper saying that if she should go into a coma
or something, she did not want to be hooked up
to a respirator or anything.
What a relief. My mom's last days were excruciatingly painful for her. They were giving
her morphine like almost every hour for the pain.
She had obviously also become addicted to it.
She eventually went into a coma. My mother before she went into a coma told my brother and I that she loved us very much.
How peaceful she was after she went into the coma. A nurse from the hospital was a member at our church. She came in and explained to my brother and I what was happening to my mother's body. She warned us that her body was going to get colder and that all the systems were going to shut down one by one. She told us not to worry. That my mother was not in any pain.
What a comfort this nurse was to us! God really
blessed us through her.
My brother, his wife and I had an all night vigil
with my mom the night before she died. The nurse said that we could still talk with her because she could hear us. We cried, told stories of times with mom, etc.
My mother softly and easily passed away.
The way she wanted.
I did not find it a painful experience at all.
I found it a blessing. She had suffered so much. My mother was a very intelligent and talented woman. She never wanted to live like
a vegetable, that's why she signed the legal papers NOT to be put on a respirator.
The hardest thing with my mother's illness, was the day she stopped playing the piano. My mother
played classical piano. She was very good. Every day was spent on the piano. There came a day that she was just in too much pain and could not play. That was the day I lost my mother.
I cried.
I believe death is a rite of passage.
I believe in "Rest in peace."
There was no torture in letting go of my mother.
There was no torture in her letting us go.
It is like a parent's child leaving to go to college. They are sad, but they know that
the child must become an adult.
I say, allow people their rites of passage to
death. It is not the end of the world.
Allow them to "Rest in peace."
Another beginning. And we are not in control of that. Isn't that the real problem?
We cannot be God? And there are those who want to be.
Happy Easter. Where is Jesus now?
Oh, my father died 2 years later of cancer.
He requested the same as my mother. Another
peaceful passing away.
While they were still living, they said to
my brother and I, "I know you are going to be
sad when I go, but, please, please, don't be
morbid about it. You have a life to live.
Go for it!"
They gave us our rites of passage to continue
to live.
My brother and I were in our early 20's when they died. No psychological/emotional scarring
from having let them go. Peace.
Thanks for sharing this. It was a gift that your parents gave to you. Peace is a blessed thing.
Posted by: Tripp at March 25, 2005 10:48 AMYour welcome. Thanks, Tripp!
Hope you 'n Trish have a great Easter.
I bought a beautiful handpainted egg from
Austria at my church's gift shop.
I am going to hang it up on Easter day.
I will probably buy a chocolate bunny also!