Theresa Marie

I wasn't going to blog about this. It's not in my place. In fact, it's not in anyone's place to talk about this except the ones who matter- namely her family and close friends. But I feel almost outraged that this country has taken it upon itself to make a media and political spectacle out of what is fundamentally a very private and painful experience.

When we die, we want to be remembered as a spouse, a child, a parent, a sibling, a friend. And that should be enough. A person's death shouldn't have to "represent" a battle lost, a cause triumphant or a country divided... A woman died. Do we fully appreciate what that means? Two parents lost their child and a husband lost his wife. That is a profound sorrow that must be acknowledged and most importantly respected, not used as a tool to pursue, indict or condem.

Let us not just think of her as Terri Schiavo, a name that is now so often metioned in a phrase "the Terri Schiavo case". Her name is not just a label, it is what her parents named her when she was born. Maybe we ought to remember her as a real person, as Theresa Marie.