Pawns

Florida’s in the news again. Again, the news isn’t good. You’d have to be living in a cave not to have heard about the Terri Schiavo case.

I’m sorry for Terri Schiavo. I’m sorry her life was cut short. I’m sorry her husband Michael had to cope with losing his wife so early in their marriage. I’m sorry her parents lost their daughter. Mostly, I’m sorry that so many people are on the sidelines salivating over what Terri can do for their cause.

All protests to the contrary, Terri Schiavo is a political pawn. Her entire existence now has been robbed of dignity. I’m cynical enough to believe those folks on the sidelines who are grandstanding for Terri’s feeding tube to be restored, the ones belonging to Political Action Committees, the ones who issued a subpoena for Terri Schiavo to appear in court (Hello?? She’s been comatose for over a decade??), the ones who’ve fought hard enough to provoke Congress into debating a special law on Palm Sunday, nonetheless, are thinking much less about Terri Schiavo than they are about the legal precedents such laws will establish for their other, far more important causes. Either that, or how they’ll look to certain groups of voters in the next election cycle.

That, my friends, is criminal.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone who’d say to someone they love, “Even if my brain has ceased functioning, even if I can’t hold you or talk to you or see or hear you, even if I can’t laugh or go to church or pet my dog or make love or enjoy a sunset, make sure you keep me connected to a feeding tube for however long it takes until my body finally gives out.” I know I couldn’t say that. I love my husband and kids, my parents and siblings, too much to have them suffer, even if I’m not.