Ok, so today has been a major news day due to Terri Shiavo finally passing. She put up one hell of a fight for a person who, regardless of what you believe, hasn't walked, formed a sentence, been outside, and didn't really even know what state she was in for 15 years. 15 whole years. Most of us can't go 15 minutes without walking, talking, moving, or munching on something. She held out for 15 years and then put up a 13 day fight without food or water.

No matter what, it was nothing short of amazing.

However, it made me think of a couple of things. I don't want to debate who was right or wrong. I'm just going to present the facts, ask a question or two for you to ponder on, and close out the blog.

Here are the facts:

1. A woman was starved to death.
2. No one was sure if that was her wish.
3. She has (had) broken bones with no background on how they happened.
4. Her "husband" has a common law wife, 2 kids, and a life insurance policy he just received.
5. An autopsy will show NO EVIDENCE of a persistant vegetative state, but it could possibly show abuse.

Here are the questions:

1. Where do we go from here?
2. Does this precedent become a "living will" issue or a "quality of life issue?"
3. How can we place governmental checks on Judges with agendas?

And here are my final thoughts:

I was listening to Glenn Beck today when I heard about Terri's passing. I'm not emotionally tied to the case in any way other than making sure someone wasn't starved to death without specifically asking for that to happen. With a sample of Glenn's thoughts, I dove into a thought process that sent my mind into a blaze. I instantly grabbed my phone and here's what I said word for word in my recorder so I'd remember it tonight to put it in my blog:

"Our own arrogance sometimes clouds our eyes and our thoughts like a summer storm rolling in. You can see it. You can see the lightening and you're mesmorized by it and you sit and then when it gets there, it just is not as captivating as it was when it was in the distance. And our own arrogance does that. We see it in other people until we become innundated with it that we think of it as just another situation.

Sometimes in our life, our purpose isn't served until we die. Sometimes our purpose is death, and the lessons it can teach. And I point to Randy Whiddon* and how his life was amazing and we took it for granted until his life was gone. And every time I go to drive without my seatbelt and I recognize that and I think to myself 'oh I don't need to wear it' I think of Randy. And I think he even WAS wearing his seatbelt, but I still think of Randy. His purpose was served when he passed away. That's what happened with Terri Shiavo.

Now we must check those we that lend power to. We must give a gut check to the people that have the power but they ONLY have the power because it's on lease from us. Her purpose wasn't living in a vegetative state or not. Her purpose was dying in a whirlwind of arrogance."

What I was commenting on there was out of control judges and politicians pulling and tugging because of the former's arrogance with power and the latter's need for future votes. Somewhere along the line, Terri served her purpose by giving the common man a gut check. The question I posed was "what happens next?" The answer I have for that is simple...

We bury Terri Shiavo and pray this doesn't happen again.


*Randy Whiddon was a friend of mine from middle school until his passing my 1st senior year at Georgia. He was literally the kind of person we all strive to be. You know, the kind that brings joy to anyone's life.