A celebration of death
I read the whole paper pretty much every day (that is, if you use “read” in the loose sense of perusal). It has become a time-consuming habit, but still worth it, I think, to discover what is happening locally. Occasionally you get an article which lifts the curtain on cultural mores. Saturday we got three.
The front page news was Terri Schiavo. The woman is now being starved to death by her adulterous husband, who seems determined to ensure the woman’s death rather than wash his hands of her care by entrusting her back to her parents. Culturally there is much at stake with letting this brain damaged woman slowly die, and in contrast to the conclusions of some, this woman’s story provides the pathos and passion we need to put a face on the issue of life and cultural responsibility (see Dr. Groothuis’ piece for a well-written exposition of the social and moral issues working out here).
In Saturday’s paper, the social reaction to Mrs. Schiavo’s situation was buttressed by two almost surreal articles printed on the same page. The first piece talks about the surreal activities requested by Hunter S. Thompson with regards to his cremated remains. Evidently he would like the ashes of the body in which he refused to live shot from a bizarre 150’ tower topped with a double-thumbed fist. How eccentric! How charmingly odd! First the writer famous for his dependence on chemicals and alcohol bravely blows his brains out in the room next to his young grandson, and now he maintains his eccentricities from beyond the grave with this nonsensical “tribute.” Note the words of his widow at the end of the article: “You wonder if the joke is on us, don’t you?” I can emphathize with her: the woman’s husband put a bullet through his head rather than deal with the pains of living. But she and the others in the house poured cocktails and raised their glasses to toast the man in the same room with his gruesome, still-warm corpse. There was no sense of tragedy or loss. That bullet was just the inevitable gonzo exit of a man not bound by social or moral conventions. (Note Lileks’ commentary on Trudeau’s handling of the thing [the “WTH?” paragraph])
Perhaps the most disturbing article is this one. Here a brilliant young man takes his life violently, and his family endorses the action with brave resolve, replacing Thompson’s alcohol-soaked eulogies with New Age nonsense: “Brandenn was very deeply spiritual. His mind was too powerful for the limitations of the physical world. He knew it was his time and he needed to move on.” Look at all the good he did! He gave up his organs so that others could continue living. This was not a desperate, short-sighted act of an isolated teen: it was the inevitable spiritual evolution of a soul too wise for this world.
Where is the rage? Where is the trembling sadness? I can understand how various individuals and families might adopt varying and unorthodox mechanisms to deal with the sudden trauma of suicide and death, but the larger culture should not fail to mourn such losses and rage against the dying of their lights.
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept.
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- Posted by Adeodatus on Monday, March 21, 2005 at 9:01:57 am PST
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3 Responses to “A celebration of death”
I find it pathetic that in the most advanced country in the world we have no decency to keep alive people who are clearly alive. We love our pleasure so much, that we’ll sell our most precious gift of life for a little pleasure. Mr. Schiavo ought to be dragged in front of a firing squad and shot for attempted, premeditated murder. There is no question!
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the doctor’s were able to teach Terri to eat enough that she survived? I wouldn’t be able to wait for that court case (Terri Schiavo Files Attempted Murder Against Ex-Husband). Wow! That’s a headline I’d love to see. “You tried to murder me and failed! Time to pay the price, Michael!” I guess I can only pray at this point.
By the way, anyone know how we can get rid of these flippin’ liberal, quacked, pseudo-law-abiding, nut-jobs we know as Supreme Court Justices? I’d really rather see them kicked off their bench and dishonored than ever hear another word out of their God-forsaking, worthless, no good, dung distributing, wasteful mouths! You know, there just aren’t words for the dishonoring, evil, and despicable individuals most of these justices are. Justices. That makes them sound like they care about truth and what is just. Huh! These people don’t know such things.
Comment Permalink | Posted on March 22nd, 2005 at 12:20 pm |Brother Ben, your passion is commended, as our indignation should not be sloughed off with a trite shrug, belittled by a fatalistic sneer, or lost in the manifold meandering of some overly complex bioethical reasoning. At the same time, I don’t think we can squarely confront this culture (which takes its ethical mandate of tolerance to embracing euthanasia and suicide) with language itself saturated in violence and execution.
I think, though, that the overriding emotive response demanded by these situations is not feelings of vitriol but deep, shuddering sadness. A rage at the far-reaching effects of sin itself: not just that death affects all living creatures in this age, but that fallen, damned creatures should try to embrace that outcome as something normal, natural, and beautiful. There is enough sadness in the Schiavo situation to go around. A woman nearly killed herself through an eating disorder, and now her family and our culture must show unusual responsibility and compassion in a very complicated ethical situation. (For the record, this cultural response to death is one of the reasons I have questions about the death penalty. It isn’t an issue of justice, but whether our culture has the moral footing to execute such a judgment with the requisite grief and sense of reluctant obligation; we tend to treat state-sponsored death as the victim’s right to ultimate revenge, or society’s right to purge itself of icky people, rather than a very weighty and ultimately tragic duty to see justice done).
As for the nine robes atop our judicial branch: would you destroy it utterly if three are found there? How often do you find a unanimous decision coming from that bench, that they all must suffer your injury? If indeed they have perpetuated injustice and call what is evil, good, we will hold them accountable. Most Americans understood what was at stake with this last election and this court, and took the one step they could to see that things will change.
Comment Permalink | Posted on March 23rd, 2005 at 7:52 am |Adeodatus, your point is well taken. We ought to grieve over Terri Schiavo. Ironically, one blogger blames us as believers for the mess. We have stood by not doing enough. I believe the tragedy we are watching could have been averted. It could have been stopped if enough of us hit the right areas.
My frustration comes as a partial outlet to my grief. There is no reason for this life to be extinguished. A soldier dies in war. I can understand that. A man murders his wife in front of witnesses and nothing is done? This man ought to be tried for murder (let alone being held accountable for his adulterous actions). Grief is necessary, but I think equally necessary is the vitriol for how our country has failed us in upholding the value of life.
As for our Justices, any judge who does not uphold the law and morality ought to be booted! It is apparent that the American people know what is at stake with this President. Yet, I seek a way that the American people can hold these justices accountable. Most of them (if not all) have made both unlawful and immoral judgments. That is not to say that for the rest of their lives, they must bear this reputation and continue to rule in such a way, but it does show that something must be done. We have a rogue court. That disturbs me. It has disturbed me for most of my life (short though it has been). I still maintain that something needs to be done about our upper courts.
Comment Permalink | Posted on March 23rd, 2005 at 9:54 am |