Seems Robert Schindler hasn’t gotten the memo that his 15 minutes of fame at his daughter’s expense has expired. Now he’s teaming up with a pro-life group to make March 31st Terri’s Day:
Robert Schindler and National Urban Policy Action Council president Kevin Fobbs say the goal of the day is to help disabled people and other avoid Terri’s fate.
The pair said “Terri’s Day” is a “celebration of the ‘Culture of Life’ as well as celebrating the woman who sacrificed her life for this cause.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I was always under the impression that in order to sacrifice yourself it required a conscious decision to give up your own life. Given that Terri wasn’t able to make conscious decisions of any kind—was in fact shown after her death to be missing the majority of her brain—how the hell did she sacrifice her life? She didn’t, obviously, but that won’t stop these folks from trying to turn her into some kind of martyr.
The national initiative to annually honor the memory of Terri Schiavo includes gathering one million pledges from all 50 states as well as from international supporters in the hopes of establishing March 31 as a national day of remembrance.
The pledge drive will culminate on May 12th with an official ceremony, prayer vigil, and presentation of a ceremonial pledge sheet and check representing funds from supporters from around the globe.
“Terri Schiavo’s legacy has taught us that life is precious and should be protected,” Fobbs, also a Michigan radio talk show host, said.
Terri’s legacy taught us that life really sucks when you’re missing a good chunk of your brain because not only will some people refuse to let you die naturally, but they’ll try to turn your death into a rallying cry to prevent others in a similar state of suckage from being allowed to die naturally regardless of the fact that the quality of your life was essentially non-existent unless you gain some subconscious enjoyment out of drooling on yourself.
The memorial day will also include several projects, such as helping people obtain a pro-life advanced directive spelling out the kind of lifesaving medical treatment they don’t want denied.
I’d assume that if we’re allowed to come up with living wills saying what we don’t want done to us in the event that we’re in a similar state then it should be OK to come up with one that says what you DO want done, but I suppose it’s possible that there’s no provision for that. If there isn’t then there should be. If you don’t have such a living will ahead of time then you’re going to have to suck it up and go with whatever decision the person most directly responsible for you comes up with as was the case with Terri.
Those participating in the memorial day will encourage state officials to establish March 31 as “Terri’s Day” and the project will focus on the creation of professional volunteer networks to assist families dealing with disability and neurological issues.
Proceeds from the national memorial day will support the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, run by Terri’s parents and family, and will go towards funding a neurological health care facility.
There’s a Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation? Damn, much like Terri herself, this nonsense is going to drag on for years at this rate.
“One year ago the nation was emotionally torn apart with grief because of the life and untimely death of Terri Schiavo,” Schindler and Fobbs said in a statement. “Some called it a pursuit of the culture of death, however Terri’s very life stood for the culture of life.”
Doncha just love it when folks ascribe meaning and intention to brain dead people who can’t tell them to piss off on their own? Let the poor woman rest in peace without dragging her name around to promote your personal ideological pet causes. She’s dead. Let it go.
I just read a transcript of Matt Lauer’s interview with Michael Schiavo that took place recently. If Michael is to be trusted (and I personally would trust him long before I trusted either one of the Schindlers), the issue of money was at the forefront of Robert Schindler’s concerns almost from the beginning. Perhaps it is my cynical side speaking, but it looks more and more like the continuing publicity this case is garnering has less to do with Terri and more to do with the Schindlers’ desire for attention.