PEGGY NOONAN ON THE SCHIAVO SITUATION

Great article by Peggy Noonan. I have so many bookmarks and links I wanted to post, but simply did not have the time to do so and it might be too late. I almost wanted to avoid the news and debate on Terri Schiavo's situation, but last week I couldn't as I watch through a couple news shows that captured my attention and humanity. Outside of the politics that surround the topic of Terri Schiavo's life, the positioning of the husband just seems a bit shady and selfish. If her parents want to care for her, why not let them? Even though much of America seems to be for pulling the tube, I don't believe most of them have the correct information and facts that people worse than Terri Schiavo have come back and lived healthy and happy lives. Where there is hope, there is always a way, and there are countless stories of love that have proven this within our modern times. Her husband seems to be lacking the areas of love and hope.

In Love With Death
The bizarre passion of the pull-the-tube people.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
by Peggy Noonan
Thursday, March 24, 2005

God made the world or he didn't.

God made you or he didn't.

If he did, your little human life is, and has been, touched by the divine. If this is true, it would be true of all humans, not only some. And so--again, if it is true--each human life is precious, of infinite value, worthy of great respect.

Most--not all, but probably most--of those who support Terri Schiavo's right to live believe the above. This explains their passion and emotionalism. They believe they are fighting for an invaluable and irreplaceable human life. They are like the mother who is famously said to have lifted the back of a small car off the ground to save a child caught under a tire. You're desperate to save a life, you're shot through with adrenaline, your strength is for half a second superhuman, you do the impossible.

That is what they are trying to do.

They do not want an innocent human life ended for what appear to be primarily practical and worldly reasons--e.g., Mrs. Schiavo's quality of life is low, her life is pointless. They say: Who is to say it is pointless? And what does pointless even mean? Maybe life itself is the point.

I do not understand the emotionalism of the pull-the-tube people. What is driving their engagement? Is it because they are compassionate, and their hearts bleed at the thought that Mrs. Schiavo suffers? But throughout this case no one has testified that she is in persistent pain, as those with terminal cancer are.

If they care so much about her pain, why are they unconcerned at the suffering caused her by the denial of food and water? And why do those who argue for Mrs. Schiavo's death employ language and imagery that is so violent and aggressive? The chairman of the Democratic National Committee calls Republicans "brain dead." Michael Schiavo, the husband, calls House Majority Leader Tom DeLay "a slithering snake."

Everyone who has written in defense of Mrs. Schiavo's right to live has received e-mail blasts full of attacks that appear to have been dictated by the unstable and typed by the unhinged. On Democratic Underground they crowed about having "kicked the sh-- out of the fascists." On Tuesday James Carville's face was swept with a sneer so convulsive you could see his gums as he damned the Republicans trying to help Mrs. Schiavo. It would have seemed demonic if he weren't a buffoon.

Why are they so committed to this woman's death? (full article)