Oh my gosh--you just can't freakin' escape from this story, can you? Yeah, I know, and here I go doing yet another diary on the topic.
But this one is more along the lines of saying, okay, apparently this level of media obsession is a given, so can we do anything positive with it? It's a "when life gives you lemons" kinda thing.
Anyway, I woke up and saw this headline:
Terri Schiavo Shows Signs of Dehydration
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050325/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman
Are we really going to be subjected to reporting on her dying process, moment by moment? Please understand that I have no desire to turn this into an attack on any of the principals in this case. I feel for her husband, and I feel for her parents. But wow, if we are capable as a society of putting this much media and personal attention into the "saving" of one very ill woman, couldn't we use some of that for some of the other people who are slowly dying in silence--far away from the cameras?
From one of the articles a few days ago:
Republicans defined their extraordinary efforts in the context of the sanctity of life: "A society is judged by the way that it treats its most vulnerable citizens," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.
They played that line on The Daily Show and Jon Stewart responded, "Oh my G-d, we're getting universal health care!!"
My husband wrote this in the Blog for America comments a few days ago:
Hmm... The GOP is concerned about our "most vulnerable citizens" now? OK! Glad to have them on board! This means that we will be repealing Bush's tax cuts that benefit the most wealthy of us while they deprive our "most vulnerable citizens" of basic social services. This means that we will be ending Bush's aggression in other countries that is being manned by troops that come disproportionately from our "most vulnerable citizens". They will join us in promoting an agenda of equity and justice so that our "most vulnerable citizens" have as much access to the law as our most powerful corporations. I'm glad the GOP have seen the light. Maybe some good can come of the Schiavo's suffering after all
Thankfully, I don't watch the news, so the most I have seen as far as coverage of this tragic (on all sides) story has come from The Daily Show. But I can't help seeing pictures of the crowds of protesters gathered outside her hospice. It makes my soul hurt. I really do believe many of these people are sincere--in contrast to the politicians involved, like Delay, who are the worst kind of opportunists. But I wish we could harness the compassion people are feeling for Terri and her parents, leading them to take part in these vigils.
I'd like to be able to say to them, "Look, I agree that this is very sad. There are few things as painful as watching your own child slip away. But the awful reality is that there are countless tragedies taking place every day--people living without food, safety, health care... I know it's sad, but I really don't think Terri can be saved at this pointCan't we please find a way to work together. Can't we find a way to work together and prevent some new tragedies from taking place?"
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Please comment...when you read the words of Mike Pence, "A society is judged by the way that it treats its most vulnerable citizens," what's the first thing that comes to mind. What legislation should we be working to pass that would protect our most vulnerable citizens?