NORTH MIAMI BEACH — My friend Barry Ingber moved back to
California recently and left me a wonderful gift in parting. It is
a telegram that he sent on May 5, 1987, to a liberal talk-show host
on NPR named Ruth Hirschman who was denying that Terry Waite was
really being held hostage by the Hezbollah in Beirut. The telegram
reads: “Springtime in Beirut is wonderful; having the time of my
life — wish you were here. Terry Waite.” Friends, this era of
American self-delusion is coming to a close. We are learning to
stop fooling ourselves, and our best teacher might be a plucky
Floridian woman with a brain injury.
Let me say this clearly about the case of Terri Schiavo: I have
never been prouder to be an American, never happier to be a
Floridian. This nation, led by its red-state citizens, has united
to deploy its boundless fount of creativity on behalf of one least
equipped to preserve her own life. We will not be gulled anymore.
We will not let this woman die.
The Florida state legislature, prodded intently by Governor
Bush, which saved her life in 2003 with one clever law, tried to
pass another this time. It would forbid pulling the plug on any
patient who had not signed an actual living will with such
instruction. Somehow this jammed in the State Senate. So they
handed it off, and upward. The U.S. Congress stepped in.
Ingeniously, Rep. Mike Enzi (R-WY) came up with the idea of
subpoenaing her to appear before his committee, affording her
protection until such time as she was sufficiently recovered to
testify. This was blocked by the State court, and the feeding tube
was pulled at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 18. So Congress brainstormed
again and came up with a special bill in a special session and the
President made a special trip to sign the bill so that Terri could
be fed again. A stunning outlay of political energy and resources,
motivated solely by an uncomplicated respect for the individual
person and a humble gratitude for God’s greatest gift to humankind,
the gift of life.
By now the players have grown familiar. The Schindler family,
Terri’s parents and siblings, are asking for her to be returned to
their care. They seem prepared to do whatever it takes to love her
and to work toward their dream for her rehabilitation. She is only
41 years old and they hope to catalyze higher levels of
cognition.
Opposing them is her husband, Michael Schiavo, who recalled
after winning a three-quarters-of-a-million dollar lawsuit that she
had expressed a desire to die rather than living in a vegetative
state, then discontinued all therapeutic and rehabilitative efforts
on her behalf. The Schindlers deny that she ever said such a thing
and argue that her ability to smile, cry and acknowledge visitors
puts her many notches above the vegetable in the food chain.
THE GREAT RIGHT-TO-LIFE writer, Wesley Smith, has researched the
case and claims that Schiavo has, among other dubious decisions as
her legal guardian, had her cat killed and her wedding ring melted
down … all this while cohabiting with another woman and fathering
two children. Yet Judge Greer, the Florida jurist who has the
disposition of her case, continues to vest sole stewardship over
her destiny in the hands of this spouse-by-a-technicality.
This is the quirky conundrum that has been handed to our society
as a battleground of the intellect and the spirit. Life or death?
The letter of the law or the spirit of the law? Quality of life or
sanctity of life? Optimism or pessimism? We know what Greer and
Schiavo think: they believe that the cup is half-empty and what’s
more, it’s their cup to begin with.
But for once, finally, after fifty years of persistent reversals
in the courts, we are starting to win. We are beginning to get the
message that if we fight for life with all our hearts, the culture
will turn, Main Street will return and the arrogating Courts will
overturn. If we save Terri through this stirring advocacy by our
activists and legislators, we will send a message across the nation
and across the world: we choose Life.
I admit it, I am wearing my heart on my sleeve this time. And
here in South Florida, the sleeves are short and the hearts are
big. For once we are united in a cause that transcends the calculi
of politics and economics and power and glory. Dammit, we are
reaching out to this woman who could be our mother or sister or
daughter and telling her, “Honey, you are safe here in the nation
of the Mayflower and the Constitution and the White House and the
Super Bowl. We are a nation founded in love of God and Mankind; as
long as we are here, you will be beloved and protected.”
