Terry Shiavo's Death by Starvation

To Whom It May Concern,

         I am ashamed today to be an American. Land of the free? Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness? For those who can speak for themselves, perhaps, but not for those who cannot communicate the dignity of their humanity in measured educated words. Those who stand mute are stripped of the most basic rights in this country. The hypocracy of a nation which lifts itself as the democratic role-model of the world disgusts me.

         I am not surprised, though. A couple weeks ago a friend told me she was praying for a miracle- that Terry Shiavo would speak up for herself. But we as a country deserve no miracles. We who snuff the lives of innocent children simply because they are “unwanted”, or the handicapped because they are less than human, or the disabled because we wouldn’t want to live like that, or our elderly because we don’t want to waste our inheritances on their care- we shouldn’t be surprised that upon the word of a single estranged spouse, a woman can be starved to death in our country. Terry Shiavo was not dying until a court gave permission for her to be executed by starvation & dehydration. Her sin? Brain damage. No executive or legislative branch stepped in to prevent it. Go, America.

         For those of us naive enough to have believed the propaganda we were taught in school- that there is a balance of power in the branches of our government that protects us from tyranny- this is a day of fear. The courts will not protect the right to life for all Americans. The legislators will not legislate the sanctity of all human life. Our executives will not veto death. This is the government we have chosen. We asked for it. Now we must be ever afraid, especially those who cannot speak (because of age, disability, poverty, lack of education) or we who love someone less than perfect, because our government can decree a death sentence upon the whim of any “legal” entity that decides that death is better than such a life. Our country will offer no protection to those who don’t fit our warped and ever-changing definition of a life worth living.

God help us!