March 29, 2005
On Terri Schiavo
I was not going to post anything on this situation. However I found this letter in my inbox today which so eloquently states my thoughts exactly, I have decided to share it.
March 21, 2005
Dear Members and Supporters of The Interfaith Alliance:
Over the past several hours many of you have been kind enough to share
with us your thoughtful reflections and questions regarding the tragic
situation involving Theresa Marie Schiavo. Several of you have
inquired as to whether or not The Interfaith Alliance has taken a
position on the end-of-life issues swirling around Mrs. Schiavo or on
the involvement of the United States government in this case by way of
votes in the United States Senate and in the United States House of
Representatives on Sunday evening and early Monday morning respectively.
The Board of Directors of The Interfaith Alliance has not adopted a
position on end-of-life issues or directed the staff of The Interfaith
Alliance to give attention to these issues either in our policy work or
our educational efforts. I cannot speak for them or for the
organization on these issues. However, I am astonished, appalled, and
grieved by the actions of the two houses of the United States Congress
and the White House that have prompted me to write this personal letter.
The life-and-death issues brought into focus by Mrs. Schiavo's sad
condition involve medical questions and legal considerations far too
complex for me to address without more information. I might add that,
in my opinion, members of the United States Congress would have been
well advised to adopt a posture of humility and compassion related to
these issues as they impact Mrs. Schiavo and her family. Neither Members
of Congress nor any of us have any business seeking to dictate
procedures for members of a grieving family and numerous doctors,
lawyers, and courts that already have considered the familial, medical,
legal and personal issues involved in this situation and attempted to
address them with fundamental moral, medical, and legal values.
As a pastor for many years, I repeatedly have stood with troubled
families grappling with the issues that surround Mrs. Schiavo's
bedside. Those experiences have taught me the myths that often get
perpetrated as facts in public debates regarding circumstances like
those involving Mrs. Schiavo. No perspective regarding a resolution for
such a difficult situation has all of the weight of compassion and
wisdom behind it
Alongside my concern for the family of Mrs. Schiavo stands my concern
for our nation. A family's grief over the loss of a loved one is
being compounded by pontifical posturing among politicians and religious
leaders who know too little about the situation even to comment on it
much less to attempt to control it. A tragic situation is being made
more tragic by the insensitive intrusion into it by Washington
politicians seeking yet another venue for speaking to their partisan
constituencies and for strengthening their political "base." For
Congress and the White House to jump into this tragic situation at the
last minute, after years of court proceedings, and to take a position on
the value of life so inconsistent with, if not contradictory to, many of
their other decisions, represent unconscionable meddling in the private
decision of an American family—a family who needs our thoughts and
prayers, not our spirit of blatant judgment and our not-too-subtle
politicization.
Profound questions disturb me. Are there no limits on the intrusive
reach of this government? Where will Washington go next? Do claims
of both religious and political authority give a government the right to
invade the spheres of personal autonomy and religious independence?
How long will the American public wait for such questions to be
answered.
Dear friends, all of us would do well to step back from the bedside of a
woman caught somewhere between death and life, divorce our political
initiatives from this realm of personal and familial pain, pray for the
peace of Terri Schiavo and her family, and after taking a hard look at
how we feel about politicians who are willing to manipulate even
personal pain in an effort aimed at political gain, decide what we are
going to do about our democracy.
Sincerely,
Rev. C. Welton Gaddy
President, The Interfaith Alliance
Illustration Friday-Crowded
Here's a quick pencil drawing I did for Illustration Friday. I wasn't paying much attention and was dismayed when I realized that the finished person looked a lot like the cousin I have been feeling angry with! Guess I need to talk to her. Funny how art or writing can bring those things to the surface. Anyway, I erased her image and made the face look more cartoonish.
Anthropologist Annie felt crowded as the walls closed in around her...
