Monday, April 11, 2005

Cross-Currents Reality Check

Yitzchak Alderdstan:

The last days of the Pope contrasted with the circus surrounding the tragic end of Terri Schiavo. The Pope, who had made so many more meaningful, dramatic gestures in his lifetime, made an important one in his death as well. It was hard to miss both the dignity and the love of life inherent in his determination to bear the pain of infirmity, and in the extent of medical attention lovingly offered him.

Huh?

As the International Herald Tribune reports: "On Thursday, two days before he died, the pope refused to return to the hospital for more aggressive treatment, deciding instead to die in the sparsely furnished bedroom in his Vatican apartment."

Furthermore:

"He was not at all holding onto life," Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, one of the last people to see the pope on the day of his death, said in a telephone interview Sunday.

In other words, the Pope decided for himself when it was time to die. According to the 5 witnesses Judge Greer and the Court of Appeals accepted, Terri Schavio made a similar decision for herself, didn’t she?

So if there was a "contrast"between the last days of the Pope and the last days of Terri Schaivo it was this: The Pope's decision was respected, and Terri Schavio's decision was not.