[Vision2020] Morality, Life and Death

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (March 25, 2005) Spokesman Review's Opinion section:

He may not be a subscriber to this list, but no truer words were written by
a person so far removed from Moscow, Idaho.  Thank you Issac Bailey of the
Myrtle Beach Sun News.

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Morality, life and death 
Issac J. Bailey
Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News
March 25, 2005

I'm going to stop praying to God and start praying to those who believe they
have the market cornered on morality.

I'm not talking about those who share their beliefs out of love and a
conviction to speak truth. We need their voices, even when they differ from
our own. Often their counsel forces us to make better choices.

The people I have a problem with are those who insist their wisdom is as
complete as God's.

Why shouldn't I pray to them? They already know what's right. Why bother
figuring it out for myself?
 
According to those folks, I must be crazy to believe a same-sex couple can
have a God-honoring relationship. How dare I not simply accept their
interpretation of Scripture?

And I must be a murderer if I think it's wrong for the legislature to step
into a situation it knows little about. I don't know what should happen to
Terri Schiavo because I don't know her, can't know her wishes. I know the
case has been heard by at least 16 judges. I know a court-appointed guardian
agrees with her husband and doctors who say she's in a vegetative state. I
know that given that amount of due process, legislators should have stayed
out of the situation and instead prayed God's will would be done.

I know that President Bush should get no credit for leaving vacation early
to sign a law that adds unnecessary judicial action, particularly since he
signed a Texas law in 1999 allowing hospitals to trump the wants of families
when continued care is deemed futile. A baby was recently taken off life
support against the mother's wishes because of that law. Bush didn't rush to
be by that mother's side as her baby died in her arms.

I know I believe in miracles and that doctors can be wrong. A doctor can
detect signs of life. He can't fully understand God's plans before they are
revealed.

I know that someone in a vegetative state can bring joy to those who love
them and hope to strangers and that they can inspire others. I'm just not
wise enough to know how much time must pass before that's no longer the
reality.

I don't know whether I'd want to live if my body were an empty shell. But
I'd want my wife to make the decision, without interference. Because after
witnessing how every person with a cause or an opinion feels it's their duty
to step in where they have no claim, I know I don't want to become another
Terri Schiavo.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Hog Haven, Idaho

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they
are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say
about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

-- Robert F. Kennedy