The Preciousness of Life
The amount of interest and attention focused by Americans on the Terri Schiavo situation is truly astounding. What is the essence of this interest? My Rebbe suggested this morning that perhaps it is some deep, inherent struggle to come to terms with the preciousness of life.
We live in a society that is defined by a culture of death. (See Andrew Napolitano's fabulous column in today's New York Sun; the on-line version requires a subscription). There have been 35 million legal abortions in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Since the 1990 Supreme Court decision in Cruzan v. Missouri it has been the law of the land that anyone may refuse to take food, water and medical treatment. Mr. Napolitano does not blame the judges in this case; they were simply imterpreting laws that reflect this culture of death. In his view, the Schiavo situation is just the graduation of the culture of death to yet another level of destruction, where the power of the government is used to hasten death rather than prolong life.
So, perhaps Terri Schiavo's death was a time when people stepped out of our culture of death to think about the preciousness of life, something we so rarely do.
I have been giving this a lot of thought all morning, especially because tomorrow I reach a major milestone. Have I reflected much about the preciousness of 50 years of life? Do I understand the value of each day or do I just let the days fly by, wasted? Do I appreciate all of G-d's blessings? MHW, my kids (and now grandchild), the rest of my family, my friends?
The answer, of course, is no. I think my Rebbe was suggesting that we use the example set by Terri Schiavo's parents, who took extraordinary measures to prolong a life that many of us would conclude was not worth living, to reflect on whether we are appreciating ang using the days that G-d has given us.
The amount of interest and attention focused by Americans on the Terri Schiavo situation is truly astounding. What is the essence of this interest? My Rebbe suggested this morning that perhaps it is some deep, inherent struggle to come to terms with the preciousness of life.
We live in a society that is defined by a culture of death. (See Andrew Napolitano's fabulous column in today's New York Sun; the on-line version requires a subscription). There have been 35 million legal abortions in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Since the 1990 Supreme Court decision in Cruzan v. Missouri it has been the law of the land that anyone may refuse to take food, water and medical treatment. Mr. Napolitano does not blame the judges in this case; they were simply imterpreting laws that reflect this culture of death. In his view, the Schiavo situation is just the graduation of the culture of death to yet another level of destruction, where the power of the government is used to hasten death rather than prolong life.
So, perhaps Terri Schiavo's death was a time when people stepped out of our culture of death to think about the preciousness of life, something we so rarely do.
I have been giving this a lot of thought all morning, especially because tomorrow I reach a major milestone. Have I reflected much about the preciousness of 50 years of life? Do I understand the value of each day or do I just let the days fly by, wasted? Do I appreciate all of G-d's blessings? MHW, my kids (and now grandchild), the rest of my family, my friends?
The answer, of course, is no. I think my Rebbe was suggesting that we use the example set by Terri Schiavo's parents, who took extraordinary measures to prolong a life that many of us would conclude was not worth living, to reflect on whether we are appreciating ang using the days that G-d has given us.
posted by MoChassid @ 9:56 AM
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