[GCFL-discuss] Fw: Willing Lives

[gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net]

Hello everybody. Things have been awfully quiet lately, and I have been
wondering about what we could fruitfully discuss. This language is a
little rough for my choice, but I received it from someone who has
struggled with polio and post-polio syndrome, kept herself fully
functional for 18 years after PPS symptoms set in, and continues to
cheerfully block out a life for herself now that she can barely move her
limbs. So I think she speaks with some authority about intrusive
self-serving politicians, and individual choices.

Siarlys

> > Subject: New Advance Directive....
> >
> > I, _______________________(fill in the blank), being of
> > sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by
> > artificial means.
> >
> > Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of
> > peckerwood ethically challenged politicians who couldn't pass the
> > ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it.
> >
> > If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up
> > and ask for a cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get
> > better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my
> > spouse, children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in
the tubes
> > and call it a day.
> >
> > Under no circumstances shall the hypocritical members of the
> > Legislature (State or Federal) enact a special law to keep me on
> > life-support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their
> > own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education
and
> > future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma.
> >
> > Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this
> > case.
> >
> > I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to
> > scrounge for their run for the presidency, it is my wish that they
play
> > politics with someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace.
> >
> > I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send
> > e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I
don't
> > know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach
and
> > crusade on my behalf. They should mind their own business, too.
> >
> > If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case
> > into a political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave
and
> > make his or her existence a living hell.
> >
> >
> >
> >
_______________________________________________________Dated_____________
_
> > __
> > Signature
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Witness
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Witness
> >

I find the adjective "peckerwood" offensive, although "ethically
challenged politicians" is perfectly accurate. (I have many good friends
and a few relatives who might be called "peckerwoods" by persons inclined
to use the term, as well as close friends who might for historical
reasons be inclined to use it occasionally).

I find the adjective "fundamentalist" less than helpful. I don't find the
above referenced politicians to reflect the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any
way, shape or form. Nor do the fundamentals of the Gospel come down
clearly on the side of any loud voices in this debate. So I neither give
them credit they don't deserve, nor would I use respect for the
fundamentals as an automatic insult. (It is by the same token less than
accurate to refer to Osama bin Laden as a "fundamentalist" Muslim,
although he IS a hypocritical murderous religious zealot who should play
politics with his own life, not everybody else's.)

The reference to "religious zealots" is more appropriate, especially when
we remember that the original "zealots" were denounced by their own
priesthood AND rejected Jesus. People who show zealous commitment to
their own faith by sending emails to politicians demanding intrusions in
someone else's life are not worthy of respect.

Finally, while many individuals rightly fear political interference in
their own personal, private, life choices, there remains the fact that
nobody really knows for sure exactly what Terry Schiavo wanted -- which
suggests that the blunt instrument of the law was simply incompetent to
"do the right thing" in any way shape or form.
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