In love with death: the decision to starve Terri Schiavo

(new and improved from last night's ramblings)

First, here's a opinion piece by Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal) on the issue: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110006460. Peggy's article is entitled In Love with Death. A really good read.

I recently finished reading the Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. The Schiavo case seems to be a micro-example of what Lewis was writing about. Lewis said a world that destroys values ultimately destroys man. Do the values behind the decision to let Terri starve empower man or destroy him?

Clearly, there is a distinction between administering lethal drugs and pulling the plug on someone being sustained by a machine. Where in this spectrum does Terri lie, and what values does the decision to starve Terri eminate?

It seems that pulling the plug on someone is merely allowing them die a natural death. Without the machine, they cannot live. Yes, Terri is dying a "natural" death, not due to the fact that there is not a machine supporting her, but due to the fact that she is being denied food and water - essential things that everyone needs to survive. To me this is the difference, and the reason why allowing Terri to starve supports values of death instead of life.

The "triumph" of Terri's husband is to allow his wife to die. But his triumph seems to be an example of the triumph of values of death in modern society.

"Each new power won by man is a power over man as well. Each advance leaves him weaker as well as stronger. In every victory, besides being the general who triumphs, he is also the prisoner who follows the triumphal car." - Lewis.

The removal of Terri's feeding tube is only one example of the deterioration of the value of life in modern times. Think about the countless babies that die every week due to abortion. For most of these children, they would be full functioning adults, their lives taken away because our society does not value them.

This is not a triumph. This is a tragedy.

Yet, the fact that there has been such an outcry over Terri shows that the moral conscience of the nation, while perhaps deadened, has not been silenced. And that is good news.

Remember to pray for Terri.