Imagine being of sound mind trapped in a body unable to: speak, eat, control your bodily functions, walk, laugh or ever do anything ever again with another human being.
I would surmise for most people, this would be hell, bordering on torture.
I find it amazing how we feel compelled to euthanize an animal injured beyond repair (physically or mentally) because it would be inhumane to allow it to live.
Could you imagine keeping your dog alive via a feeding tube for 15 years? Most people would never consider subjecting a pet to such a miserable existence.
So why do we sentence our loved ones to hell on Earth when they sustain extensive injuries that leave them in a vegetative state?
Why are we unable to extend the same compassion and mercy to our loved ones that we would to the family pet?
Even given the advances in medical science to evaluate a fetus before birth, most of the people in our society still consider it inhumane to abort a severely deformed or diseased child.
It somehow is better to allow the child to be born, subjected to a lifetime of corrective surgeries, misery and pain, never to have any quality of life.
My thoughts and prayers for Terri Schiavo were that she was in a complete vegetative state, because if she wasn’t, she has been living a nightmare every day for the last 15 years.
The word “life,” as it pertains to human beings, must certainly define something other than just breathing.
It seems rather obvious that the reason we keep our loved ones alive is for our benefit, not theirs.
The real awareness this tragic episode has revealed is that people are selfish and would rather let a loved one live a miserable, tortured existence than be left alone. Some people are very concerned with preserving human life; they just don’t care about the human existence.
Rest in peace Terri.
