I know I’m stepping into the middle of controversy when I mention the current issues brought to light by the Terri Schiavo case. I don’t mean by this post to step into the personal family dispute here, so I apologize ahead of time to those who take my comments or my thoughts wrongly. Timmer, I understand why you closed the comments on your own post, and I respect that. I hope to deal with the matter on a different level here. The case embodies feelings that touch us all, and brings to the public forum our many different ideas concerning life and death, a vital issue to everyone, as we shall each face death eventually. And we will each face the end of this life on earth with our own views, with our most personal of beliefs. Since that is assured, maybe we owe the Schiavo and Schindler families a debt of gratitude for making us face our own mortality.

The President has just returned to Washington in order to address a congressional move to place the Schiavo case into the federal courts, in order that a final, very public, hearing may be held to establish just how much response this unfortunate young woman may have to events surrounding her. Regardless of one’s stand on the case, I fail to understand why anyone could object to having the matter examined in the light of day. If it were me, and if someone were in a rush to end my life, and objecting strenuously to giving me a last chance to prove that I were in that body, I would hope that someone would show an interest in having proof of my incapacity before allowing me to die. I appreciate knowing that President Bush has taken an interest in the case, as it affirms my belief in the man’s committment to freedom and life. It tells me that should I have been the one in that situation, he would have cared as much for me, and this gives me comfort.

I do want to make one thing very clear. I am in great doubt at this time about what Terri Schiavo’s real wishes were, and I am in doubt as to how she got into the condition where she is today. It just reeks of suspicion that there is nothing in writing, and no viable disinterested witnesses to her “verbal living will.” Living wills are right and just, and should be completed by everyone, in writing or on video and witnessed. No one should have their right to life adjudicated by any lone judge or any family member, without recourse. Let’s save the life of this young woman, and then let’s then change the law, even make it a matter of federal law if necessary, to require living wills to be in writing or on video, to be properly witnessed, or in the lack of same, defaulted to life. Life is the normal situation, until God Himself calls us home to heaven, but cannot be recalled if we humans take it. The situation here is not that of “heroic measures” such as heart-lung machines, or any technology keeping her alive. It is simply a matter of providing nutrition and hydration, the basic things that we all need to stay alive. There should be no hurry to let Terri die, we have the time to give her proper medical examinations, to find out the truth in her case.

Why is this important? Because it is a matter of life and death, and it could apply to you or me tomorrow. It is an issue for society, not just one family. And Terri Schiavo is one of us, no different from any of us . We owe her the best of care our society can offer, because we could be next.