I know this is a difficult topic and there are varying opinions on what should or should not be done, but I am going to attack this issue a little differently - from the precedent perspective. (I am publishing this after she has died because I do believe in right to die)
Personally, I do not think that a Judge should have the right to say who lives or dies. I think there is a reason you should have a living will, and Terry Schiavo is a great illustration of that reason. I may never write a living will, but if I do ever get married I will write a will that puts that decision squarely into my mother and brother's hands, not my husband's. No spouse should ever have to make that decision, because the truth is that love is a decision we make daily, but if you think about your family you don't think about if you love them (in the best case scenario). You know you love them and you would do anything for them; whether that means unplugging the machines or plugging in the machine.
Terry Schiavo's husband has moved on, and I don't blame him for that. Any person would want to move on and have a full life. Nobody in their right mind would want to be tied to a person in a vegetative state. I don't know that I would be any different. Many times during the course of this the argument was made that as long as she is not surviving on state welfare then she should not be unplugged. I'm sorry, that shouldn't be a defining factor. The defining factor should be a) is she breathing on her own? and b) is her heart beating on it's own? If a baby is born with severe brain damage and abandoned at birth is it now going to be okay to withhold food? After all, he or she will never lead a productive life and will only be taking away from the world in which it lives.
And this is where I see our country heading after this episode. I know many people talk about the Right wing being Nazis. However, at least the Right wing stood up in this case, I would like to point out that the Left did not. And now they have one thing in common with the Nazis: the desire to rid the world of those who do not add to it. Because alone with the Jews and Poles and Gypsies who were thrown into Concentration Camps there was one more group: the mentally and physically disabled. Today we know that many people who suffer from cerebral palsy are just as intelligent as any other person, but do you think they knew that in the 30s? Who are we killing? We can't even be sure that people don't suffer from pain, but we think they don't and is that enough?
Many will say that Terry didn't want to be kept alive, but she didn't write a living will and this is based on the comments she (allegedly) made to her husband and a friend. Let's be honest, most of us wouldn't want to be kept alive in her condition. And I could say with all certainty that almost all of my friends (with the notable exception of one) has told me that they would not want to be kept alive in such a state. However I seriously doubt that even one of them has a living will.
My main point with all this rambling: a Judge shouldn't decide who lives and who dies and what one might have meant to do after one is in a vegetative state. You either have a living will, or you don't and your family agrees on what to do. If one group wants to keep you alive I think you should be passed off to them, especially if that group is your blood related family.
Comment away, I'd love to hear everybody's opinions!!
This is for all my trusted girlfriends out there (and all my guyfriends who want to weigh in). I have noticed that this year's spring colors involve a lot of pastels, and it seems that I don't think I look particularly good in any pastel color besides light yellow and pink. However, I would like to ask all my peeps to tell me what colors they've seen that I do (or don't) look great in.
I even read a book (didn't buy it, just read it in the store) this weekend about finding your color. I didn't match any of the color schemes in there so I still don't know what color I look good in, mainly because the one I was closest to the defined as: you DEFINETLY don't have hazel eyes, which I have.
I think I'm going to be wearing a lot of white close to my face and a lot of wonderful colors on the bottom (I just bought a lilac linen skirt!).
Weigh away!!
I have this problem and I know I've complained before, but it's getting ridiculous! Apparently now I look younger than 19, this past week I have gotten no less that three comments about how young I look. I figure it must be related to the number of pimples I currently have. The sad thing being that I never had pimples until after I was 19 or 20. I mean I had them, but not lots of them or big ones.
All I want is to be asked out regularly by random guys at the grocery store. But NO, my number of pimples is apparently going to make them think I am 16 with an acne problem. When really I am 25 with an acne problem and very hard won wrinkles! I have wrinkles, I got my first one at 23 or so, I even remember which one it was... ahhh, such a wonderful day...
So I will be trying a new skin care regimen, as soon as I find one to try out. If anybody has any ideas please tell me. I have even started putting rubbing alcohol on my face - it really burns. And don't tell me to stop eating chocolate, that only affects my waistline. Though it might affect my skin if I melted it and smeared it all over my face... yum...
Has anybody seen any good movies recently? I watched Miss Congeality 2 (that's right she's congealing), it wasn't nearly as good as the first one and I woudn't recommend it. I still haven't seen Garden State, but that's more because I'm a complete cheapskate and have a hard time paying 4 bucks to rent a DVD.
Time to go eat my Easter dinner, long live Ishtar! Er... I mean God, you know since he's still living and everything...
As I am sitting here eating my whole package of milk chocolate Hersey Kisses I would like to think this is what Easter is all about... right?
Regardless, Happy Easter, and may the easter bunny bring you your own package of Hersey Kisses in the morning!
Recently I read this new series of books from Mercedes Lackey about dragons and the people who fly them. I love dragons, any book where they are portrayed well is a good book, but I would almost say these books are great. (If you read them and hate them I cannot be held liable in court.) The first book, Joust, seems a little forced and after I had finished I found out why: it was originally a 50 odd page short story and the author then liked it so much she had to turn it into a whole book. It gets better about page 75 and speeds up nicely towards the end, if you read it only to get to Alta, it is worth it.
Alta is better, though I can't say much without giving the story away. It fails in two places: the first when it falls into Harry Potter-esque story line for about 10-15 pages early in the book and the second in having too many characters and not enough time to get to know them. By the end of the book you know the characters pretty well, but after spending so much time meeting the primary character in Joust, Vtech/Kiron, you spent almost none getting to know his friends.
A dragon is the national symbol of Wales and it is one of my favorite mythical creatures. I once sat in a church where the preacher claimed that 'anyone who likes dragons is worshipping Satan'. While I do see a lot of satanic shops selling dragons I would like to point out that it hardly makes the animal itself suspect. I swear, if Satanists cooped the Bible and claimed it was their book for no good reason Christians would denounce it. Ok, maybe that's a bit extreme...
But also consider the unicorn. For some reason nobody thinks it's odd that an animal with a phalic symbol stuck on it's forehead and who is only attracted to (presumably) young virgins is bad. I mean what unicorn out there is a virgin? Probably none of them... (though maybe this explains why there are none around) and then they go off luring young virgins into the deep dark woods to find them. But they aren't up to anything.... sure.
That is my review of the month. If you don't like Sci-Fi or dragons (you sinner) or books - I wouldn't read it. However, if you like all three you might want to pick it up, read the back and see if you like what you read. (Admittedly, the covers are a bit cheesy.)
Anybody else want to brag about recent reads?
I know you have all been waiting with baited breath for the pictures of my apartment. The rule is no making fun of my style. I know it isn't all color coordinated, but at least it isn't mauve-iless. And I apologize for the out of focus pictures, I am not the best with these digital cameras, give me a fully creative one anyday of the week though...
My kitchen is small, I usually use the table in the dining room for exta counter space when I cook. Of course you can see that I have a lovely kitchen aid and honestly I haven't used it much because the things I make are made more with my hands, and therefore germs, which are good for you. Want proof? I haven't been sick in a year...
My dining room is very cute, and I have my mom's corner hutch to decorate with. My wine glasses from Venice, my saki glassees from Japan and my baptism candle are all in there. I guess you aren't supposed to burn a baptism candle, I know because I asked my mom. You'd probably burn in hell...
My living room, if you are special you have a picture on the mantle. Unless you were camera shy, or maybe took lots of pictures with me before I left and then 'lost the camera' for a while and then found it but don't want to develop it until you use the whole role of film... not that I'm referring to anyone in particular.
Those of you that were at Bethel and we took that big group picture at the spring picnic, can I get a copy? Email it to me or send it to me, PLEASE!
Here is my living room's second picture, it's a decent size mainly because of the lack of furniture. I can't really lie down on my couch after all, which isn't bad because it's the most comfortable thing to sit on. Outside perhaps of my old lazy boy couch and Lo's couch, but still good nonetheless.
Here's my bathroom, the picture actually turned out exactly backwards. Amazing. I am too poor to buy matching rugs so I apologize for offending your sensibilities. Oddly I am not too poor to buy more shoes, but that's another matter.
I am so happy to live alone for one simple reason, I have the bathroom counter (what little there is of it) all to myself.
Here's the bed! Okay so it's messy, not like many of you make your beds in the morning either. It's also big, so I can sleep diagonal like.
And, last but not least, BOOKS!!! Ahhh, how I love them in a completely non-sexual way. Whoops, sorry about that image...
I hope you enjoyed your tour, for real life proportions please visit me at anytime. Provided you call before knocking on my door at 4am.
I don't have much to say right now, which is probably why my blog is suffering.
I am very busy at work and so barely have time to check my email, which I spose I shouldn't be checking anyway. But does anybody not check personal email at work? Why it is such a standard that you shouldn't but everybody does anyway?
I have been super busy off work too, what between keeping up with all my TV shows, thinking about excersizing, reading and cleaning I barely have time to sleep... or maybe it's just that I am bad at going to bed on time. And even when I do go to bed it like I lay there for a while before I can even fall asleep... aaahhh, adulthood. In college it was wonderful because I would fall asleep sometimes before my head hit the pillow.
So that's my life in a nutshell.... how's your life?