Better Dead than Disabled?

You may remember an earlier post I shared where Charmaine Yoest told us of an earlier civilization more advanced than our own in caring for the weak and disabled.

Another central theme: Food is not Medicine.

Here are more thoughts from a wise mother (and a friend of my Sister) who, like many of us, cannot comprehend the thinking that leads to and encourages the devaluing of life in our many forms of Glory:

As the mother of a child who not only is fed by a feeding tube, but also a central line for the last 8 yrs, I am appalled by what has happened to Terri. My mother in law is also fed by a tube, so for our family, tube feedings are very typical and normal. And in no way can they be considered life support. We all need to have nutrition and hydration to live, and a feeding tube, nor even a central line to provide the nutrition is really not all that uncommon nor is it as complicated and technical as many in the media and elsewhere make it seem.

There are thousands of people who are living full and meaningful lives while using various alternative ways to maintain nutritional status. There are also thousands of disabled persons in our communities who have fought incredible odds to survive and have quality of life.

Terri Schiavo was not given the opportunity to show what she could do, the day that her husband refused any kind of rehabilitation for her. God gives us all a meaningful life, and I find it so terribly sad that her husband could not look past her injuries to see the possibilities. At least to give her the chance to prove that there WERE possibilities.

Sometimes my children say to me "I can't" or "It's too hard", or "I will never be able to do that". I work with them, and despite the negative feelings they have, eventually they are instead able to say "I CAN" or " I Did it!". Do the disabled in our communities and our lives not deserve the same opportunities to at least try, or be given the chance to see what they can do? Terri was not given that chance, and I fear for our society that so devalues life when it is not "normal" or "typical". Where are we going in the future, when it seems so many feel "better dead than disabled".

Terri's husband may not have been able to clearly see the possibilities for her future, or maybe there was something more sinisiter at work. I do not know the answer, but Mr. Schiavo does, and so does the Lord.

I pray for the Schindler family, who saw Terri as more than a person in a vegetative state, they saw her for her possibilities. And I pray for this country, that somehow good can come from this, and that disabled people everywhere are seen not as to be pitied and to let die because of their disablities, but seen as human beings, created by God, and allowed to thrive and grow in whatever situation they may be.

Better Dead than Disabled -- vile thoughts we had extinguished after spilling much blood from the last century.

UPDATE:

National Review Online asks, Who's Next?

Hat Tip ProLifeBlogs.

UPDATE II:

Blogs for Terri is determined to fight for our future.

The answer to Who's Next? must be nobody.

It will take much prayer, time and effort, but we need to demand a Disabled Rights Era.

UPDATE III:

More Right-to-Starvation nonsense from Chris Matthews while on the Don Imus Show:

The parents... the father seems to be having, I hate to say this, a good time. I don't know why, maybe it's the focus, maybe he's giddy with sadness of the tragedy that has been going on for so long.

Michelle Malkin has pictures of Terri's dad "having a good time."

Kevin at Wizbang! raises an eyebrow as well.

Cross-Posted at Sierra Faith.