Shame on us all

Easter weekend has come and gone. Terri is in her 10th day or court mandated starvation. At this moment she sits in a bed undoubtedly crying inside under the unimaginable suffering that the sort of death she has been subjected to precipitates.

Who is to blame? Her husband for certain, he is the lowest form of life. Sure the judges have a role; they made their rulings. We must ask who empowers them to enforce their immoral and inhuman pontifications. Jeb Bush had the power under the Constitution of Florida to act; he could still act if he were a real man. The Gestapo police that are “merely following orders” could demonstrate some degree of humanity and refuse to preside over the starvation of a helpless woman. All of these people are to blame.

They are not alone. We all have a burden to carry in this. There have been notable exceptions of individual courage. Ministers, children and ordinary folks have decided to let themselves be arrested for attempting to do the right thing rather than stand on the sidelines. Their efforts have been too few.

What of the rest of us? Surely there are thousands of people that believe that this is just wrong. Why did we not go to Florida and force our way into the hospice care and free Terri? Are we so apathetic and concerned with our own existence and comfort? Apparently so….Maybe we believe in the rule of law…but how can we when those that enforce and interpret the law do not understand fundamental rights such as the right to life?

We have failed as a people and a nation. Our leaders failed and we as the body politic failed to act in their stead. We have all (with notable exceptions) stood by and watched this woman be sentenced to a death worse than a fate we would sentence a mass murderer to.

Some of us sit comfortably on our duffs and write about it but this has not saved Terri from her suffering.

Something is terribly wrong with us as a people (a people that claim to love liberty). We are too unwilling to fight for the liberty and rights of the weakest among us. A people so unwilling to protect the weak have no right to claim liberty for themselves.

Shame on us all.

Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem
El Cid