Posted on 03/14/2006 11:28:51 AM PST by KevinNuPac
Terri's Day challenges the nation to unify
Kevin Fobbs
March 13, 2006
Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life honoring Terri Schiavo with a day of remembrance challenges each and every one of us to stop for a moment and ask ourselves a question, do we respect ourselves, our families, our lives?
And if we are faced with the question of the possible certainty of death, does anyone truly know, or even have the faintest clue about, our wishes? That is the greatest good, the greatest legacy that Terri Schiavo's death and an annual "Terri's Day" can bring to our lives and to the celebration of the Culture of Life.
On March 18th, we as a nation will begin to grieve again, to reach into our hearts and feel with our collective national spirit what the Schindler family felt last year at this time as each moment since Terri was disconnected from the feeding lifeline, the moments crept by like hours and hours like days.
All of us have felt in some way that pain — even if it were only in the privacy of our loved one's home, hospital room, hospice or perhaps talking with an attorney and doctor attempting to make sense out of some fleeting comments made in a conversation perhaps voiced ten, twelve or even two decades earlier — not necessarily an expression of her true feeling about an end-of-life decision but merely an incidental musing in a long-forgotten side conversation.
For at least one million Americans, and quite possibly a whole lot more, this is an opportunity to voice an opinion through a pledge supporting a resolution in each state called "Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life." Each and every person who cares that your family, your spouse, your mother, your father, your sister or brother understands with clarity what you wish the end of life for you to be, with dignity and certainty should sign the online pledge at www.kevinfobbs.com and take the additional step to sign a Living Will — or as they call it at www.terrisfight.org, the Will to Live.
Some have asked why Americans should care about an annual Terri's Day. It is quite simple, we tend to keep turning the page on the Culture of Life because we feel it does not affect us. We tend to believe that seemingly universal belief that those who are handicapped, those who are not quite living a "perfect" life or by contemporary notion "ideal" then those lives are possibly disposable, marginal, not relevant, and part of the Culture of Death which embraces a "disposable society."
But life and our values for the Culture of Life are not disposable. Think about the young people today who would rather hurt themselves or even take their own lives rather than feel "imperfect" or the elderly person whose family is told by an insensitive health care professional while the stricken person struggles to cling to life, "she would be better off in another place," — just let her die, disconnect her from life, because her quality of life is not up to "contemporary standards. "
Why does celebrating the Culture of Life in Michigan become so essential for all of us in America? It is important for several reasons. Dr. Jack Kervorkian, also known as "Doctor Death" helped launch first in Michigan and then the nation the notion of the death culture. Secondly, and equally as important, at the May 12 event — just two days before Mother's Day — there will also be a "Mary's Moms" celebration of those women and mothers who have met challenges in standing up for some aspect of the Culture of Life.
This past weekend I sat at my cousin's funeral — or going home celebration, which more accurately describes it — thinking about the dearly departed and how she packed so much caring for others into her life even as she struggled with illness and advancing age. She was a wonderful woman who had lived through many, many challenges in her life, but in her 73 years she had met these challenges with dignity and had conveyed to her family when would be the right time to allow her to pass away.
Her daughter, who is a minister, spoke to the packed church about the times when, with all of her pain and then a stroke, the doctors had informed them that perhaps it was better to let her go. Yet that was three years ago that that occurred, and if the family had listened to the doctors and refused to see how she fought back and not only recovered but went back to volunteering at the church to feed and clothe the homeless. The medical professionals didn't care about an elderly lady who was on dialysis, but the family did and they knew better. Patricia lived three more years — years her extensive extended family considered "a gift from God."
So isn't part of the lesson of Terri's legacy and Terri's Day for families and loved ones to have a meaningful conversation with their family and to have the written document on hand as well that conveys the wishes clearly and concisely? You betcha.
As I sat in the church I thought of all of the families across the nation and the world who were sitting at their loved one's bedsides — or even standing outside of a hospital emergency room — overwhelmed with emotion, torn by what may be days of conflicting anguished decisions. I thought again of how out of death we may have the certainty of life. Terri's death reminded the nation that yes a state can and will starve you to death, and your family may be rendered helpless as you watch your loved one's precious life forces drain slowly away.
By signing the online pledge at www.kevinfobbs.com or going to www.terrisfight.org, you can learn about how to encourage your state legislature to establish March 31st as an official Terri's Day. Hold a Culture of Life Home Party or meet-and-greet to sign pledges, share ideas and support The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation as well as Culture of Life activities and events in your community or around the nation. Between now and March 31st you can make a dramatic difference for yourself, your family and for the nation. Stand up for the Culture of Life because one person, one life, one family can and does make a difference in America. Make the difference and be the difference today. America...The countdown for the Culture of Life has begun.
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Kevin Fobbs is President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. View NuPac on the web at www.nupac.info. Kevin Fobbs is a regular contributing columnist for the Detroit News. He is also the daily host of The Kevin Fobbs Show on News Talk WDTK - 1400 AM in Detroit. Listen to The Kevin Fobbs Show online at www.wdtkam.com daily 2-3 p.m., and call in toll-free nationwide to make your opinion count at 800-923-WDTK(9385) © Copyright 2006 by Kevin Fobbs http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/fobbs/060313
This is such wonderful news!
With the Culture of Death becoming so pervasive in society, it is miracles such as these where God reminds us that we are neither alone nor forgotten in the battle against evil. We must cherish these moments, but realize that there is still so much more to do.
We all need to come together to fight this evil, since we are all just
a heartbeat away from becoming Terri or Andrea!!
This is ultimately a human rights issue which we must embrace
one another on, or we are doomed.
Either life is sacred and precious, or we are all nothing more than
the bottom line $$$.
So many laws were broken in Terri's case from placing her in a hospice, denying her due process, letting Micheal and then mistress Jodi skip giving depositions, etc. Yet seems everything has been swept under the rug. Or am I missing some ongoing investigation?
That is why so many involved hope we just MoveOn and forget. That is why we get harrassed by trolls, because we keep up the pressure. If this case were investigated truly and all the egregious behavior addressed we would have a major crime story.
The country challenges you to lead the way and mind your own business instead of trying to tell everyone else what to do.
True, and America will pay a fearsome price of it. On another level, however, the whole effort is building on sand. It is as futile as anything else contradicting the laws of God. It will make us crazy but it cannot make our sense of right and wrong go away. Deep inside, we always have a God sense.
Praise God! Thank you for the update.
Prayers for Andrea's safe move and a blessed, happy future.
Thank you so much for posting that update. Best to Melanie and to Andrea and thanks to all who supported them through this ordeal. Prayers continue for Andrea's wellbeing.
I'm calling U.S. Congress Toll Free #1-877-762-8762.
Leslie,
St. Luke's has rescinded their offer of transferring
Andrea to the other facility in the Chicago area. We
are trying to get them to put it in writing that they
won't discontinue life support for our sister right
now.
This is heartbreaking. We don't know what to do now.
Melanie
Leslie,
I just got more information on this:
The hospital in Chicago, which St. Luke's suggested
that Andrea be transported to, has no facilities that
have the required equipment to meet Andrea's needs.
Seems like St. Luke's should have known this before
contacting them, in the first place, but who knows
what's going on in their heads?
We are trying to get, but have received no guarantee
that St. Luke's will not pull life support on Andrea
on Sunday.
We are in tears here. We were willing to make the
sacrifice to pull up stakes here and go to a strange
city, to save our sister's life. Now we just don't
know what to do. It seems like we're back to square
one.
Melanie
The St. Luke's Hospital has reneged. We are now worried that they will go ahead with their planned euthanasia which is coming up soon. Surprised, anyone, they waited until Friday after the news day had died down? Pro Life Blogs should be updating momentarily.
Meanwhile, any ideas or action? Now is the time. Time will run out soon.
8mm
They all attended the March for Life in 2005.
There are other pro-life Congresscritters too but these are definites.
I'd say to call their local numbers if the Capital Switchboard is busy. I can't get through to the usual number.
Andrea wanted a whattaburger. PVS patients crave fast food? Guess that makes us all PVS then.
OMG!!! Aren't they planning to kill her on Monday? What can we do?
"St. Luke's has agreed not to pull Andrea's life support at least until Tuesday. On Tuesday, a committee of doctors from St. Luke's will meet to discuss how to proceed with Andrea's case. Andrea's new doctor--a doctor who shares our values about the sacredness of life--will take over her care on Tuesday and will fight for her right to live."
Credit where it's due: above breaking from June Maxam of www.northcountrygazette.org.
4:40 p.m. central standard time
see my last post. TUESDAY something new.
So, if the committee members vote, they could out-vote Andrea's new doctor. This is still not the answer. Do you happen to know if they vote and could out vote the good doctor?
Good thing I'm a Lutheran. (much easier to spell)
They could still try to kill her after Tuesday. I left a voicemail message at St. Luke's media relations. I covered EVERYTHING imaginable.
There's an update at DU.
"This is what happened: St. Luke's contacted the Chicago facility and they agreed to take Andrea as a patient. BUT, St. Luke's then told us that the Chicago facility doesn't have the equipment necessary to take care of Andrea's medical needs. I can't help but think that they did this to get the media off of their backs and maybe let this die down in the press. They are under intense scrutiny by the right to life groups, because of this.Right now, we are trying to get some assurances from them that they won't withdraw life support from Andrea on Sunday, but they are not forthcoming with those assurances.
Melanie"
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