She Has Gone

The first headline to hit my eyes this morning was "Terri Shiavo’s Sad Story Ends." The words "Thank God" involuntarily escaped from my lips. Now that poor girl can stop being yanked back and forth like a broken rag doll between her husband and the courts, and her parents and the politicians. Unfortunately, with Michael Shiavo promising an autopsy on his wife’s long-suffering body, to disprove allegations that he physically abused her into her "persistent vegetative state," I’m afraid this story has not quite come to the end of its fifteen minutes. More’s the pity.

Unlike other political/media circuses of recent years—the Clinton-Monica debacle, the OJ trial, Princess Diana’s death---the Terri Shiavo drama brought some very important issues into the foreground of American consciousness. Issues that will probably touch every family in some way, some day. Unfortunately, our media, our government, the crowds of shrill demonstrators, and even the principles involved, proved that they had no idea how to handle such important issues with the gravity, diplomacy, and thoughfulness they demand. What does this say about us as a society?

Bon voyage, Mrs. Shiavo. I hope that what awaits you on the other side is all the more special for the incredibly long road you traveled to get there.

 

My good friend Jackie, of Pixels, Politics, Posies, and Pussycats, (and my real life)   makes more sense of this than I have in her post today.  It's very much worth reading...