Heavenly musings about Terry Schiavo

MARCH 28, 2005
by GREGORY J. RUMMO

            With virtually every legal appeal exhausted, Terry Schiavo’s supporters lost their battle to save her life on Thursday when she finally succumbed to the effects of dehydration and starvation. Where the repercussions will take us in the years ahead is anyone’s guess.

             Those who come down on the side of death; the abortion and assisted suicide proponents, don’t think it matters. To them, it’s just another life and hey, life’s cheap as long as it isn’t theirs we’re talking about.

            Right-to-life supporters have a less myopic outlook and believe it marks another degree of steepness in the slippery slope defining America’s culture of death.

            Over the past few weeks, mere mortals have weighed in with their opinions about Terry Schiavo ad infinitum. But really, what do we humans know about life and death?

            Imagine if we could glean a heavenly perspective.

            Angels, we are told are a curious sort. The Bible characterizes them as beings which “desire to look into things.”

            And so I wonder, if it were possible for us to peer into heaven and eavesdrop on a conversation between God and Michael, the Archangel, if that might offer deeper insight into the events we have witnessed unfold in a Florida hospice.  

            It might sound something like this:

            “Lord, what is all of this fuss about Terry Schiavo? It seems that many humans, especially Americans, have been absorbed with this one woman’s slow death.”

            “Ah yes! Michael, humans can be a hard bunch to figure out sometimes, especially the ones in America. I have blessed them with so many material things and yet they are still not content to enjoy their own lives. They are a voyeuristic bunch, aren’t they?”

            “Yes Lord, but isn’t this case special? It seems that there has been non-stop coverage on American television for two weeks. People are still dying in Iraq but that story has all but disappeared from the newspapers. And people have been murdered in other places in the world, too.”

            “Michael, a life is a life. All life is very precious to me. It doesn’t matter whether that life is given to an Iraqi or an American. And it doesn’t matter how short or long that person’s stay on the earth has been. A young person is just as valuable to me as an old person. Ponder this: While millions of Americans have been glued to their TV sets watching poor Terry slowly starve to death, thousands of little babies have been slaughtered in abortion clinics.”

            “Why Lord, do you let it continue?”

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            “Once long ago I created man. I placed him in a lush garden. I gave him a beautiful wife and just about everything else you could possibly imagine. I told the two of them there was one thing they were forbidden to do: They could not eat from one tree. It was paradise. We often walked and talked together in the cool morning air. But one day they decided they knew better than I. They ate from that tree and everything changed. So now, since many of them still think they know better than I, I graciously step aside and let them reap the fruit of their own foolish sowing.”

            “Lord, what is happening now on earth reminds me of an earlier period when your chosen people lived under the rule of the judges. Your book describes it as a time when ‘everyone did what was right in his own eyes’.”

            “You are a very perceptive angel, Michael.”

            “What will be the end to all of this confusion over the sanctity of life on the earth, Lord? Will humans ever learn to reverence every life as a precious gift from you?”

            “I had hoped this would be the case, Michael. Unfortunately, the situation is becoming worse and worse. But I have a plan that will sort it all out.”

            “Oh Lord? And what is that?”

            “I will send my son back and he’ll take care of it in person.”

            “When, Lord?”

            “Soon, Michael, soon.” n

 Gregory J. Rummo is an author and columnist. His latest book, “The View from the Grass Roots—Another Look,” was just published and is available from Amazon.com or the author's website, GregRummo.com.