The death of us all
Terri Schiavo’s agonizing and very public execution was more than a tragic story in America in the recent past. It has become America’s story in the present, as Terri’s brother Bobby Schindler tells it in this account on the second anniversary of her death.
As hideous as it was, the truth is, long before Terri’s case made headlines, the removal of basic care – food and water – was becoming commonplace. It continues to happen every day across our country oftentimes in cases, like Terri’s, where the patient does not suffer from any life-threatening condition.
Much of the problem that exists stems from a blind acceptance of misinformation that has moved us from a firm belief in the sanctity of life to a “quality of life” mindset, which says that some lives are not worth living.
That has been slowly increasing for a long time, like the temperature of the pot of water that will eventually boil the frog. As you no doubt know, he would jump out and escape if suddenly put into boiling water. But when the heat gradually rises, he adjusts, and eventually dies from the scalding hot water. I can remember early murmurings of euthanasia when I was in college, when some of us thought we were hearing ‘youth in asia’. That seems so long ago, compared with where we are now.
This shift, what I call lethal bigotry, began with the medical community, has infiltrated our judiciary and is taking over our nation. People are making decisions in place of God, while even many Catholic leaders remain silent despite the Church’s teaching and the pope’s constant reminders that God alone is the arbiter of life and death.
The sad fact is we have become a nation that spends billions trying to find the perfect body, while ignoring the condition of our collective soul; where altruism seems to be a thing of the past, and moral relativism has become a bona fide religion.
Combined with a popular media selling the notion that killing people in certain conditions is an act of compassion, one can understand why people with disabilities are in danger…
Unfortunately, I don’t know if people realize how the mainstream media influences their everyday lives, or the scope of what is happening in our hospitals. Perhaps, more accurately, they just don’t care.
We talked about this today in a roundtable discussion on The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio. Drew, Bobby Schindler, Brother Paul O’Donnell and I went through the issues at hand here and now, which this anniversary highlights. You can catch that whole conversation in audio streaming…and why this is more than looking back.
