Life and Death . . .

Today, March 31, Terry Schiavo died in Florida. No matter where you fall in the great argument surrounding the life of this woman, the fact remains that her passing deserves a moment of silence, a somber reminder that for all of us life is fragile.

Terry's life and death and the whole ruckus over what were her final desires causes me to ask some questions:

How do we measure soul? I mean, some doctors tried to convince her family that she had no "conscious" existence. What instrument did they use to measure that? I wasn't aware that we had found the "soul" or "consciousness" gene in our mapping of the human DNA. How did they know for certain that Terry wasn't aware?

As far as I know, we have no scientific way of measuring the existence of the soul. We have some theories, some ideas, but nothing concrete. I could be wrong, but if such measurements exist, I don't know of them.

I also wonder why we consider it compassion to starve an individual in Terry's condition? Most of us in the West have never endured the hunger pains or other anguish that comes with starvation. Oh, our stomaches my growl on occasion, but we've never really starved. It is definitely not a humane way to end a life.

Why have we in the West decided that "life" can be quantified or even qualified? I have heard arguments over "quality of life" until I am sick. No, I wouldn't want to be in Terry's shoes (or in Michael's either!), but it seems more rational to me to err on the side of reason. If we had any doubt (and I had plenty), we should have let her live. Who knows what could have happened?

Finally, I have to look in amazement and wonder why folks say things like, "Well, I guess it was God's will for Terry to die." Why do we say things like that? Technically speaking, it is God's will for all of us to die. We start the process when we are born. Do we really think that God delighted in Terry's situation? Why are we so quick to determine for God what he thinks? God knows I've done it way too many times.

Well, I've rambled enough. I have no good answers for my questions, and I won't even try to give bad ones at this time. I wanted a moment of silence, and in typical human fallenness I filled the silence with foolish words. Terry has ended her journey on this earth. Her life had blessings and plenty of sadness. May she rest in peace.