This a letter from a friend of a friend whose a camera man at the Schiavo media battlezone.
"I sent the "day 5" photojournalist notebook to most of you earlier this week.
Now, below, see for yourself what a difference a couple of days make in the
perspective of someone who's on the scene of the Schiavo story in Florida."
Names have been changed to protect the innocent. :-)
Hey,
The mood is definitely changing around here, especially in our little camp.
No matter which side you agree with, this story has become tragically sad. I
will fully admit that when I came here, I agreed with the pulling of the tube. I
still believe that after 15 years in this state she should rest in peace in a
higher place. But to say that providing nutrition and hydration through a tube
is "artificial life support", and that by pulling it is a humane way to end her life is completely absurd.
If she was on true life support, she would have died quickly. Instead she lies in a bed, dying very slowly. In fact, we ALL would die slowly after seven to ten
days of no food or water.
It's also very interesting to see the deterioration of the family both
emotionally and physically. When you see them away from the media blitz, you see
a family experiencing the agonizing inevitable. They have hung on so tight for
so long, and now they practically have no choice but to finally let go. The
rings around the eyes, their postures...it's painfully obvious to see what's
happening.
The sickest thing I've seen was two days ago during the planned protests
followed by arrests. Several activists walked onto the property w/ a cup of
water, wanting to be arrested. This man crossed the property line with his three
children. I'm sure most of you all have seen this video. What you didn't see was
the fear in these kids' eyes as their father directed them to go with him. The
cops were absolutely furious with the man and wanted no part of arresting these
children. The father demanded his sons and daughter go onto the property. At
that point the police had no choice but to handcuff them. I was standing next to
a commanding officer and he told me, "This makes me sick." What makes me sick is
this father's use of his 14, 12, and 10-year old children as PR pawns. He claims
to stand for humanity, yet has total disregard for the degradation of his
children who clearly wanted no part of this.
I apologize for this long soap box stand.
Tragedies such as this give you an amazing look at humanity....both good and
bad.
As for me, today is the first time I'm beginning to feel the effects of the
week emotionally (can you tell?).
The media monster grows everyday. Yesterday alone, KJAG added two crews from
DC, two from Atlanta, a Miami crew, and a crew for Newsource. We also have about
ten more producers and two site managers. It's embarrassing to be a part of this
circus.
Greg is busy trying to get our DSL WiFi network up and running. I'm trying to
make sure Steve Jorgan doesn't tear up all our microphones and IFB boxes.
The American Express almost has a hole warn into it. It's going to be one ugly
expense report. But with all these resources coming in, I don't feel so bad
about the Escalade.
Time to go and feed the beast. Sorry the tone of this e-mail is glum. We've
passed the giddy, having a good time phase. We're here now.....waiting for an
innocent woman to die.
- Ron Burgundy