Something I wrote in early January, 2005...

Hi!

Greetings from Southern California. We've been soaked, and it's good to see the sun again!

I'm writing about Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose delightful personality and decisive opinions have been hushed up by the American media- the attractive disabled woman whom Michael Schiavo, her estranged husband, is hoping to have put to death this month.

You may not recognize her story by name, because the mainstream media has brushed over her value as a person in their consistent coverage.

I've watched Terri react purposefully to her surroundings. I've seen her express love and appreciation to her parents. Not only is she a human, possessing opinions, feelings and emotions, but she is capable of learning, and improving her motor control, possibly even learning to eat on her own.

She was making steady progress, until her husband required all rehabilitative therapy be stopped, three years after her mysterious collapse in February, 1990, and four months after winning a medical malpractice lawsuit to pay for her continued rehabilitation. In August of 1992, Terri was awarded 250,000.00 in a medical malpractice settlement. In November of '92, Terri was awarded 1.2 million dollars toward rehabilitation, in a malpractice trial. Michael received $600,000.00 in the same malpractice trial. He stopped her rehabilitation in February of 1993.

Terri is no more a vegetable than I am the London Bridge. She is a living, thinking, feeling human being, who left behind no indication at all that she doesn't want to live on a feeding tube, which, by the way, she only uses when she needs to eat and drink.

The story that she would not want to be kept alive this way, was first told by her husband in '97- four years after he cut off all of her necessary rehabilitative therapy, and sometime after making remarks, such as, "When is that b--- gonna die?", and "Can't you do anything to accelerate her death - won't she ever die?" (Carla Sauer Iyer, R.N. in a thorough and conscientious deposition, under oath).

Covering Terri's plight without showing this part of the story is nothing short of telling a half truth. I mean, the media is lying to the American public.

Why do I care? (It wouldn't necessarily be the first time the media has only told us part of a story.)

Here's why. In Germany, just before 1938, there was no widespread public outcry against the idea that some people's lives were just not worth living, and that these people, with their inferior lives, should be efficiently disposed of. This is the concept at play here, in the situation of Terri Schiavo. And so far, there has been no widespread public outcry against this tragic thinking. And I really think there needs to be.

What did they say after Hitler fell, about the Germans who chose not to know what was going on? May they never need to say that about the Americans.

Is there anything you can do? Sure! Please visit http://www.terrisfight.org/ and fill yourself in on her story. Watch the video. Check out the timeline. And don't miss the touching deposition by Carla Iyer.

Then could you compose your own letter? And send it to everyone who you think should know about this. Of course you can use any part of my letter, or the whole thing- if you like it. Somehow, I think this situation warrants more than just a mass "forwarding" blitz, but, better that than nothing.

Once the whole country knows the whole story, the public outcry part should come naturally. And if it happens soon enough to save Terri's life, maybe her death will not be layed to our charge.

Sincerely,

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