A Case for Life – Terri Schiavo
What is the real question our culture is answering when it comes to Terri Schiavo, and whether or not she should be kept alive?
There is no question that she once was a vibrant person. There is no question that her quality of life as most would define it has been severely minimized. There is no question that many among us may think we would choose to not live under such circumstances. There is no question there are many among us that might at first blush equate the value of such a life to that approaching zero.
Yet, there is also no question that we are NOT Terri. Nor are we as a nation Terri’s family. So, does the question really become how would Terri answer the question as to whether she should be kept alive? But, since she cannot answer, the burden has been undertaken by our society to speculate. However, caution is advised. How we respond will define us as a society.
There is no question that she is a living human being. There is no question that some people’s lives will be enhanced by her continued existence in this world. There is no question that there exist people who love her. There is no question that, were she enabled to answer, Terri would tell us that she loves them. Does anybody really question that love?
Do we really question as a society that to love and be loved in the course of one’s life is the ultimate purpose of any life? And, where it exists, should it not be allowed to continue? So what is it about the love flowing to and from Terri in her present condition that is somehow less valuable than the love experienced by others that would justify its being discarded? What is it in her case that outweighs the value we attribute to a persons life due to the existence of love? Is it outweighed by some people’s concerns over money? Concerns over convenience? Concerns that for a life to be worth continuing it must have some tangible utilitarian purpose for society?
If it is money, why not do away with the idle rich and distribute their wealth amongst us. If it is convenience why not push the severely handicapped over the edge and be done with it? If it is the belief that a life must contribute some utilitarian purpose, why not just round up and shoot the homeless?
Unthinkable? Could this be because somewhere hidden amongst our core beliefs is the notion that civilization by definition must place an inherent value on life that transcends money, convenience and utilitarian contributions or it will cease to be civilized? Was this not the ultimate finding consequent to the Nuremberg trials: that life must be given a value held sacred transcending these worldly notions or we may all be found in peril’s way? For where it is not, any claim of that people to possessing a character and integrity superior to that of the Nazi regime shall cease to exist. And surely where that has occured we have seen the horrors produced. One need only reflect upon occurrences in Mao’s China, Stalin’s Russia and Pol Pot’s Cambodia to keep the list conveniently brief.
In those instances, the inherent value of a person based upon he or she being either the giver or recipient of love was reduced to an absolute irrelevance. As a result, many millions in those societies were relegated to irrelevance on the basis of money, convenience or the absence of utilitarian purpose. Needless to say, our collective interests are best served if this outcome can be avoided in the country in which we live.
However, this can only be done where it is also collectively determined by a society that has disregarded the notion that God has played a role in the creation of the lives in question. For where it is acknowledged and appreciated that God exists, it is also found undeniable that He has declared Himself to be the source of the greatest gift bestowed upon mankind: love. Consequently, for a nation to discard the existence of love as a criterion by which to evaluate and hold sacred the worth of any and all human life mandates that it discard also: (i) an acknowledgement of God; (ii) His role in the creation of human life; and (iii) the importance that God places on love. For if there exists a God love must be found to be mankind’s greatest purpose and wherever it may be found to exist it must be recognized as the sole justification in the mind of God that need be found for their continued existence.
So, in answering the question of whether or not the life of Terri Shiavo has a value to our society worth sustaining, we may now better appreciate the question really being asked and why caution is advised before answering. Are we not really responding as a nation to the question of whether our society acknowledges, much less values, a belief in God?
Sadly, when all is said and done, our answer to this question in reference to the unborn does not afford Terri or her family much hope.