The Culture Of Life

To the Editor:

This has been a sad week as we watched the passing of Terry Schiavo and Pope John Paul II. The passing of both these people stirred our emotions and both deaths were public spectacles. This is to be expected when a Pope passes away, especially when a papacy is so long and dynamic, but surely Terry Schiavo didn’t expect nor did she seek this kind of attention.

To be sure, many of the people who fought to keep her alive were sincere in their efforts to cherish and preserve life. Although they couldn’t save Terri Schiavo, their courageous vigil reminded us how splendid and sublime the gift of life is and how we should not dismiss it so cheaply.

By the same token, there were those, particularly our public servants, who chose to exploit the suffering of Terri Schiavo and her family for political gain. It was shocking, disgraceful, not Christ-like and un-American. Many people behaved shamefully, but none more than Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist with his diagnosis-by-video, and House Majority Leader Tom Delay with his thinly veiled threats of violence for the conservative judges who upheld the law. Clearly Delay aimed to shift the media attention away from his numerous scandals, while Frist was testing the waters for a 2008 presidential bid. How sad to watch American leadership fall so low.

After Terry Schiavo died, President Bush encouraged the nation to embrace “the culture of life.” I agree and I urge all those who rallied to save Terry Schiavo to continue their efforts to uphold the sanctity of life. Let’s start with the war in Iraq. More than 1,500 American soldiers have been killed. Thousands more have been horribly wounded and the violence continues without an end in sight despite democratic elections. This was an elective war sold to Americans, a credulous media, and a docile Congress with bad intelligence designed to concur with the Bush administration’s predetermined conclusions. Furthermore, reports state that more than 100,000 innocent Iraqi citizens may have been killed in our efforts to liberate them. Are any of these deaths less painful for the surviving families than Terry Schiavo’s was to her family? Are any of these lives less precious or sacred? Will Jesus weep any less for a dead Iraqi child? Yes, please let us embrace the culture of life and let us do so immediately before any more atrocities are committed in the name of spreading democracy.

Here are some other sobering thoughts for those of us who embrace the culture of life. While Governor of Texas, George W. Bush had a brain damaged person executed. Bush also publicly mocked another condemned prisoner after she begged for clemency. Furthermore, he enacted legislation which permits hospitals to pull the feeding tubes out of patients against the family wishes when the patients don’t have enough money to pay for treatment. Culture of life indeed!

Martin Blanco

8 Pheasant Ridge Road, Newtown                                 April 4, 2005