If I ran the world— part one of an endless series

[kitsap_charles]

I think I just figured out what my superpower should be: holding people who say stupid things to the letter of their words.

Case in point: Robert and Mary Schindler, the parents of (brain-dead) Terri Schiavo. According to news reports, in their unsuccessful plea to the Supreme Court they claimed they love Terri "more than life itself".

Okay. This (it seems to me) is a figure of speech, a form of hyperbole intended to convince the listener of one's sincerity. (Never mind that if they truly loved her, they'd've stopped trying to keep her empty shell alive for the past decade or so…)

Here's how my superpower would take effect. I'll arrange for Terri's body to get the best possible care— reinsert the feeding tube, trundle her body around to lectures, concerts, art shows, and whatever else they think might stimulate the parts of her cerebrum that haven't yet turned to mush into the maximum quality of "life", until her empty shell finally wears out. Heck, I'll even arrange for her desiccated corpse to be placed on permanent display at the Smithsonian.

In return, they have twenty-four hours to wind up their affairs, and then they have to commit hara-kiri. Take the Black Capsule. Be euthanized. Painlessly, of course; I'm not cruel.

If (as they reportedly claimed to the highest court of the land) they genuinely love their daughter "more than life itself", wouldn't that be a fair bargain? She gets to live (for some value of "life"), and they get to prove their sincerity.

Contrariwise, if they don't agree to this deal, then we'll just let nature continue taking its course. (Which, according to the latest news reports, the Supreme Court has decided to do; let nature run its course rather than intervene in this ghastly situation.)

Does that seem like a reasonable bargain?

Comments

[bigby2k.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me...

schiavo

[firefly67.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me. Why keep that poor body alive with no mind in it? Not to say there aren't a lot of bodies walking around in that condition...but she can't even get up and walk, and imitate the Prez or something. So for all the gods' sakes, let her die. Her parents are dorks. Or worse.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I'll third that emotion...

[5footwave.livejournal.com]

Make sure that your Petition for Superpower gets passed my direction -- I'll sign it!

[princessladie84.livejournal.com]

Pass it my way as well. And I agree that if they love her, they should let her go.

[madfilkentist]

Let's keep in mind that her parents are in a uniquely painful situation; her brain is non-functional as far as thoughts or emotions are concerned, and yet she's still got some functionality on the sensory level, giving just enough of an illusion of hope to lead them on. That's harder to deal with than her being unequivocally a corpse. I'd cut the parents huge amounts of slack on this; it's the politicians who are treating this demagogically whom I damn.

Maybe the parents really would accept that deal, for all I know. I'm comfortable with judging the principles, but don't consider myself qualified to judge the people who are at the center of the controversy, and don't think I have a reason to.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

What really bugs me, aside from: (1) the Bill of Attainder - clearly unConstitutional! - passed by Congress in her parents' behalf; (2) Jeb Bush trying to claim custody; (3) the media circus; (4) doctors and laypersons who haven't examined her trying to make diagnoses based on a few minutes of highly edited videotape; (5) the hypocrisy of trying to keep Terri Schiavo alive while pulling the plug on Sun Hudson (the 6-month-old [black] baby in Texas whose [poor, black] mother did not want his feeding tube disconnected); (6) and more, much more!; ... is that if her parents really did love her, they'd want to see that her wishes were carried out.

According to her husband, her wishes are being directly contravened here, by her parents.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Her husband and several others. Yup.
If they loved her so much, they'd have let her go.

One wonders how well they got along, when she was a daughter, not just a daughter doll.