SCHIAVO

by SixofNine 48 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  rwagoner

  FHN...

  I know that and that is why I qualified my post...it is not just about Terri.

  My point is that it is okay in society to make these general types of comments and think this way.

  "They can't go for a walk...they have no real life." "They can't make love....they have no real life."

  "They can't drive a car..they have no real life." "They are a burden on their family.they have no real life."

  "They are not like me...they have no real life." "They are difficult to look at...they have no real life."

  Am I being overly sensitive, Maybe. Am I giving extreme examples, Maybe.

  My point is that a person can only hear that they are less valuable than all the "normal people" for so long before it wears thin. I know people probably don't mean to be hurtful but the truth is....thinking and comments like that are wrong.

  What if you continually heard people say..."I'd rather die than bleed for 5 or 6 days a month", or "I'd rather be dead than be gay,black,asian...whatever" or "I'd ask someone to kill me if I ever turned 70" ?

  None of those comments would be appropriate and neither should generalized comments about people who are different in a physical, mental or developmental way.

  ok...I said I wasn't going to go on and on again....I apologize.
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  Am I being overly sensitive, Maybe. Am I giving extreme examples, Maybe.

  ok...I said I wasn't going to go on and on again....I apologize.

  I don't think Terri's situation is like yours at all.

  I have had my own father make that comment to me about a surgery I had that is disfiguring:"I think I'd rather be dead than have that." He wasn't telling me that he thought I should die rather than live with my surgery results. He was saying that he didn't think he could live with it.

  Rwagoner, people can say the darndest things. People don't always know what to say to someone who has a handicap or is disfigured so they end up saying stupid things at times. I don't think people who feel Terri should die, will think the same about someone in your situation. If someone thinks that, they are seriously flawed.
• 

  rwagoner

  but that is my point...

  To think it would be better to be dead...themselves even...than to live a life like mine....

  I have been disabled all my life and, respectfully, I understand that people can be uncomfortable around people with disabilities. I teach disability awareness for corporations all over the country to try to help people feel more comfortable.

  My point is that for whatever reason it is considered acceptable in society to place generalization and stereotypes on folks with disabilities. To take a situation that most people know nothing about and decide that it is a less than acceptable life or a fate worse than death to have to live that way.

  As I mentioned I was commenting on one person's post and not on the whole Schiavo case but it is just a short walk from justifying "mercifully ending" this vegetative woman to expanding that thinking to other situations as has already been done in the past.

  whew...LOL....I stopped posting to political threads to avoid ranting and raving....maybe I'll just welcome new people and leave it at that from now on. LOL
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  To think it would be better to be dead...themselves even...than to live a life like mine....

  Rwagoner, they only think this because they have not lived your life. If they were disabled then they'd likely change their minds very quickly and figure out that life is worthwhile, even it is limited in some certain ways. That said, there are some people who receive the surgery I did and who do pine away. Then there are the ones who die with their illness rather than have this lifesaving surgery. I was sick for 14 years, in horrid pain before I allowed it to be done. I am very glad to be alive. Without the surgery, I'd likely be dead by now.
• 

  rwagoner

  First off I'm glad that you were able to have the surgery and help with the pain. I'd miss a quality debate partner like you.

  You make my point exactly when you say that they make those comments because they have not lived my life.

  My frustration is that I have not lived as a woman or an african American or as a person who is gay...and it would be unacceptable for me to make generalized, stereotypical, hurtful comments about their lives. "I'd rather be dead than gay,black,female,old,catholic"

  Why then can people not understand that they should treat people with disabilities the same. The old saying (slightly modified)...."Roll a mile in my wheelchair" before you say something....
• 

  BluesBrother

  Rwagoner - thanks for an insight into a perspective that the rest of us have not been able to experience.

  Re Terry Schiavo ? My take is that the woman is not being artificially kept alive on life-support, she is only being fed by a tube. We all need to be fed if we are in hospital. Does society have the right to take her life by ceasing to feed her ?
• 

  FlyingHighNow

  ...."Roll a mile in my wheelchair" before you say something....

  Exactly. Rwagoner, I really wasn't trying to debate with you. I guess I was just trying to help you not be so upset by ignorant people. I am going to send you a PM right away. A nice one.
• 

  rwagoner

  FHN,

  Thanks...it is more frustration than being upset. It is something that I can't get away from and deal with it everyday and after awhile it seems like I am beating my head against the wall to get people to understand.

  BB - thanks for the comment. I don't mean to push my views or beat the subject to death...it is just a question of common courtesy I guess maybe.
• 

  Yizuman

  Would you, if you were a cripple, want to vegetate forever?" - Dr. Tergesten, in the propaganda film Ich Klage an! (I Accuse 1941)
  

  Yiz
• 

  Yizuman

  Useless Eaters
  

  I would suggest an examination of the parallel of what's happening here in America as it happened in Germany from the period of 1941 to 1945.
  

  Yiz