I am conflicted--Is it bad for me to wish for Terri Schiavo's death?

I find myself renewing the LBN every hour, hoping for the news that Schiavo has finally found peace. Is this so wrong? Can I continue to consider myself as a compassionate person when I wish for this closure?

I have certainly never met Terri or even anyone associated with the case. Indeed, in this six-degree, Kevin Bacon world, my closest brush must certainly go through (I was yards from his dad once) G. W. Bush --figure that...

But each hour, I wish for her end, I wish for her peace, I wish for our equilibrium. I hate the strife, the conflict, the angst. Am I so messed up? Can I be so selfish that I want something that is immoral? That is unnatural? That is inhumane?

I can't help but doubt these counter-arguments--but I nevertheless wonder. Am I being a total dink regarding the life of a person I never met? Or am I simply compassionate?

Compassionate. Well? Shit..............

if she died.

We wouldn't be this inhumane to a dumb animal. And we've been plenty inhumane to them.

She died long ago, but when her body finally goes, then she can rest at last, and the parents can perhaps come to terms with their loss and move on.

Ring a bell?

http://uspolitics.about.com/b/a/155253.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=120x30894

Ring a bell?

from the Schiavo case because no one wins. It's simply depressing, it divides the country and many Democrats and I hate any story that has no happy ending. Once she is gone then and only then can the country begin to heal and have closure. She was gone along time ago and what happens in a few days will only be the end of her shell living. It's just sad that the media and everyone has used this to divide the country.

One positive thing however. I think it brought a few true conservatives over to our side.

It's just that reason has been replaced by Republican rhetoric, and special interests have taken the ball and ran with it all along the way.

It's Easter morning here on the West Coast. I'll be at a service to hope and pray this poor woman goes to her final reward soon -- perhaps today.

Peace to you all. Hug someone you love today -- tomorrow may be too late.

It drove some of the most radical freeper/nazi-esque of the repukes into the Constitution Party.

They did our work for us with this, divide and conquer baby !!! Libertarians to the Democrat Moderates, fundie fanatics to the Constitution Locos.

Although answering the original post, no you are not bad for having these thoughts, this poor woman either isn't aware, and should be let go, or is aware, and is suffering every moment by being stuck in a cage. Release her.

Do you wish for her to finally expire because you want her suffering to end? (Do you believe she is still alive to suffer?) Or do you wish for her to expire because of something that you want?

My recommendation is to turn off the television, stop watching the television. I have not watched the news throughout all of this affair. I don't wish harm on anyone, but I'm simply not emotionally invested in this like I am with, say, war and peace. I'm not uncaring; I'm quite compassionate, but I was simply not interested in the details of this affair, the hourly updates.

As far as I'm concerned, this is between Schiavo and God now. I have no stake in this. As for you, it's natural for you to feel conflicted. Be thankful you feel anything at all. It shows that you are a human being. If you do feel that you are being selfish, well, it's probably time for you to realize that all humans have a darker side if you haven't. (And I doubt that's the case)

With a final word though, if you do feel that you're being selfish for wanting her to die, then you are at least being honest with yourself. We all have the capacity for evil, all of us. What counts is whether we choose to rise above that. After realizing your selfishness (if you do conclude that you are being selfish), then the next step is either choosing to embrace that or reject it knowing that you can be better than that. I believe you can be better than that if that is the case.

that I didn't watch TV today (except I did see Tim Russert, who interviewed newsman Brian Williams). I listened to our jazz music radio station, then turned on classical music. We also spent part of this day with two young friends, having brunch at a local restaurant and enjoying their adorable four-year-old son.

Back home, we got down to the "Honey-do" list and my husband cleared the drain of my bathtub, rearranged his drawers and the master closet, and tried to fix a window blind (that project didn't work out too well -- we'll have to get it professionally re-strung).

These are the things families do when they are alive. Soon enough, we will all have to face the difficult passage from life to death.

Have a good day!

I try to put myself in her place and find only the wish for peaceful, easy, blessed, and eternal settledness. This is a projection on my part, I willingly admit--but I got nothing else!!!

I have my feelings, and, I have how I think others feel---but who the Hell knows if I am right. My philosophy hasn't yet evolved to a masterful point--I'm just another tooth on the cogs of the infinitely complex universe, and I can only intimately know my own fucked-up feelings.

I haven't looked at the TV in three days--I look to my companions here at DU for updates.

Yes, I understand the "dark" side of people--and I know that I am first in line for screwed-up viewpoints. I'm just reaching for perspective here--nothing more.

I see my own sister in T.Schiavo. But the sis' I Knew as Maggie died in minutes, not years. She left memories of laughter, and sarcasm, and lust, and life. ---not court battles and appeals and Congressional action. I'd kill for a few more minutes with my sister, Maggie (Rest her soul...), and I know Schiavo's family would kill for some time with Terri as well.

This is the conflict, I guess. Dreaming that you have another option--continued life and hope, against the reality that your beloved is dead--just fucking dead. I confronted it for a few months--at worst---------They gotta live with it since 1987....

Shit--I'm glad I'm not in that family.....

It's good to back away. This is not your story or your family's story; it's a story you've been dragged into by someone else with an agenda.


But I also feel it's not bad to wish someone else freedom from suffering. My own personal belief is that Terri Schiavo, the total of all that she was, died a long time ago. Spiritually, it may well be that some around her have done her an unkindness: maybe she should have been set free at that time, and her spirit or soul or life force or what have you should have gone to whatever is next for her, and her loved ones allowed to mourn and move on cleanly. That hasn't happened, and that might be the biggest tragedy out of all of this.

Death is a hard transition because we don't understand it. But I do believe it's not the worst thing that can happen.

It is the one single most commonly found quality on DU that endears me more and more to this board on a daily basis. That is, the level of compassion held by the people of DU. I wish I knew someone like you in my real world life. You simply don't want a person to suffer and have the heart to know the right thing to do. It is a quality that repukes do not have. They are cold calculated heartless bastards who deserve the same exact painful torturous fate they are wishing on this woman.

BTW, I am doing the same thing. I am watching and waiting. Of course, then there will be the funeral. The msm will milk this for weeks to come still. As for the "cruelty" of removing the feeding tube, I just found out that they are giving her morphine now. That was enough for me to stop feeling conflicted. At least they did that for her so that she will not suffer. I just wish they would afford her the luxury of euthanasia. At least those judges used common sense in dealing with this quest to doom the poor woman to her body as a jail. I wish state judges would be so kind to me if my body was in that state. I live in a conservative area though, which means they would deny me pain killers AND let me suffer. They would give all the pain killers to Limbaugh. I cannot stand those heartless people. Grimy bastards.

This whole sick episode needs to end. I notice how, that now, the parents have at these last moments stopped with their vague, through-third-parties, accusations that the husband was a wifebeater. We had three or four days of it on TV...now, it has swiftly stopped. Is someone, at long last, telling them about their LIABILITY?

I find the Schindler family rather sick at this point. I had a MASSIVE reservoir of sympathy for them initially, but when they started trotting out 11th hour allegations of abuse I TOTALLY lost any shreds of respect I had for them--especially when those allegations had no weight whatsoever.

My take is that the crass, gruff guy, Michael, loved that woman, Terri. You can just TELL. I think he thought, when he married her, that he had hit the friken lottery. I think he believed that he had reached the PINNACLE. And I think she felt the same way. Every now and again, there are "perfect" relationships. I just think if they did not have that type of relationship, they were damn close.

When I learned that Mrs. Schiavo's parents did not even have a CLUE that their daughter was receiving fertility treatment, I realized they were just NOT CONNECTED to Mrs. Schiavo, ikn any way, shape, or form. Isn't that event, fertility treatment, kinda, sorta IMPORTANT???

Then, when I learned that she had an eating disorder as a TEEN, and when she left her home, in JUNIOR COLLEGE, to marry, that she never turned back...well, I think she LIKED being a Schiavo. I think she was happy to move ahead. I think that the 'control issues' originate from the parents, and they need to just stop--all they are doing is making asses of themselves.

Would that her family was only so willing to MOVE AHEAD, themselves. Most of America wants to...

It is my humble opinion the Michael loved her. If one removes those accusations and looks at his real actions one can make a determination of love. There are many things I discussed with my husband and not my parents. Like most people things in my house stay in my house and no the whole family doesn't know my business.
Can I see Terri & Michael that way, yes.

IMHO, Michael tried moving on because Terri would've wanted him too. Michael didn't get divorced because he had to fulfill his commitment to Terri. A commitment that involved vows of in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part.

Michael did all he could do and this is the last gift he can give Terri, the gift of peace from her suffering.

but my hope is she finds peace after Easter Sunday. The insane "Rapture Rightists" do not need another reason to get all worked up over this.

I want her to finally be at rest, but I hope she holds out for one more day.

Just my feelings on the subject.

I want for this all to be done on some non-religious day. I won't share the crazy, out-of-order crap I've said about the holy week/Schiavo connection.....

Kurt

They are sweethearts.

There are thousands, hundreds of thousands....millions.

Share the grief as equal as you can. Don't obsess over something the media wants you to. They don't tell you about the real stories.

People die terrible tragic deaths every day. People are taken off life support/feeding tubes/'extraordinary means' everyday.

Terri Schiavo is gone. She has been gone for a long time. Her heart is still beating, but what we really consider to be Terri, the person, has been gone for 15 years.

My cat Weenie got hit by a car yesterday. One of the few beings on the face of the Earth I really loved. I have tried to protect her the best I could for the past 7 years. I did the bet I could. I had no idea she was going out to the road (it's about a 1/4 mile away.) But she got killed anyway, and there's pretty much NO ONE who would understand what it was about this particular cat that made her so special.

But imagine if I expected everyone in the country to pay attention to my pain and my particular case, even for one day. It would be absurd.

This case never should have reached such a public level. It did not reach this level because Terri Schiavo could be 'saved,' nor even because she was there to be 'saved.'

...and a dogs getting hit, right in front of me, in the last few years. It's one of the most heart breaking things you will ever see, because they don't understand what just happened to them, It's better if they are killed instantly.

The cat I saw, was about a 6-8 month old Kitten that had some how gotten out into the middle of a 6 lane, very heavly trafficked road, at night. I was on my way to see a movie, and right in front of me, I saw this kitten, that had just had it's legs run over, so it couldn't move. I saw it get one of it's feet get run over, but I knew, their was nothing I could do to help it.

I ended up turning back around and going home, because it was so upsetting. On my way home, I saw it was dead on the side of the road.

But the Dog was worst. That one happened in full day light. I was driving into my parents neighborhood, a person was walking their dog, another car was driving toward me, when a little, short legged, long haired Terrier, came racing out of a neighbors driveway to meet the other dog that was being walked. The little Terrier ran right in front of the approaching car (about 40 feet in front of me) and had it's rear half and legs crushed under the front tire of the other car. I'll never forget the look of confusion on that little dogs face as it dragged itself, with it front feet, back to it's yard. Fortunately, the owner was standing about 50 yards away, so that he could take care of it in it's last minutes.

I'm sorry about your Cat, but I'm sure you are NOT alone in knowing what it's like to lose a pet. Try to remember that nothing in this life is permanent.

Bless you :pals:

"Can I be so selfish that I want something that is immoral? That is unnatural? That is inhumane?"

What part of this is immoral, unnatural, or inhumane?

Is this post flaimbait?

and I've been fighting with everyone to drive home that it is for the best. Unfortunatley, I dread the news. The anticipation makes me feel ill. But then again I felt that way in the last days of a terminal loved one's life, too. When it was over, I felt nothing but tremendous relief. I wish Terri the peace she deserves.

She's been dead for 15 years, only her body is still alive.

God Says, Get over it, Move On.O8)

If you believe as I do, that the Lord does truly work in mysterious ways his wonder to behold, you can believe that He wants Terri with him, and "they" wouldn't let her go, so...

have them do unto you' Some of the hardest things in life for me have been learning to let go of loved ones..This was particularly hard when I lost my grandparents, my sister, niece, aunts, uncles, and pets, etc..Its VERY hard but when I think of loved ones and what they were going through I couldn't wish them to go on in their dismal state at the end because that is not who they really were or wanted to be. I wouldn't want that for myself but would want someone to 'pull the plug' and let me go. Someone told me when I was young and impressionable that the true test of love comes when you have to let go. We don't have a choice really do we? I will ALWAYS love them!

that has been used as a puppet for the fundy whackjobs of this great land.

There is no malice or ill will hidden in your wish.

What is death?

Pres. Reagon, the person, had died about 10 years before his body expired but the day that happened many people mourned his death. Same thing with Terry Schaivo.

Her body's time has been delayed by unnatural means. I hope she lives past Easter though, so the powers of darkness won't get their way with having her die on Easter (I think this is what they may be looking for since drugs are now being administered).

The hospice people take their orders from the doctors and usually up the morphine dose when the patient is beyond consciousness. They speed along the process between brain/cognitive loss and major organ failure. The organ failure is inevitable, but, to put anyone through that part is cruel. The morphine drops the brain function below normal, and the morphine drops the blood presure enough to just slow everything down all at once, instead of letting each organ go into failure in a long chain reaction. If you don't suppress the normal functions with morphine, the body tries to rescue itself, by turning up blood pressure, etc, and then the body almost fights with itself. When the doctors know there's no point in that, they suppress it all with morphine, and it's calm and peaceful. I heard they started the morphine, and so, they're taking control of the situation, now. That's what they do every day. It gives the family a day or two or three to take care of whatever they need to, and start the grieving process. Hospice is taking care of the family, as well as the patient.

The judicial process didn't kill her, or liquify her brain. But hospice will ease her suffering. This is done all over the world, every day, and it's not appropriate for the politicians to thrust the whole world through this process on international television, without explaining what's going on.

They're messing with the natural progression of things, and it's not surprising that some people are reacting badly to it.