The Right Perspective

Who, but Teri Schiavo herself would have the right perspective on her very own case? Consequently, the fate of this young woman has had to be in the hands of her husband, her legal spokesperson, with very little influence of her parents and siblings. For the past several weeks this story has been the headline of every major newspaper and every major television news story. The he said she said-ness of the competing parties mixed with political and judiciary intervention has journalists squirming in their cubicles. What amazes me are their interviews of street persons, attempting to get opinions on her life and the case. They ask these common, everyday people, thinking that by diversifying their gender and color, they have diverse opinions for a justifiable article.

So I asked Amanda.

Amanda McNeil is an 18-year-old student who has lived her entire life with cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus, which is a deficiency with the brain and the body.

Amanda, what do you think about how the entire thing went down?
It was wrong. But I don’t think that she would have wanted to be like that for 15 years. I don’t want to be like this, but I am. She needed the feeding tube to function.

But what about her husband saying that she expressed to him that she wanted to die or would have in that situation?
She had no control over it. He should have just let her pass on without intervening with the doctors. I saw her on t.v. and she was alert, but not there. I feel so bad for her parents ‘cause they had no control over the courts.

What if it was you?
I would want to die peacefully without people messing with me and torturing me. I think that by starving her, it was worse.

Anything else you want to add?
There was a point in my life when I needed a feeding tube. I was a little like her…not walking, not talking. Then my step-dad came and helped me a lot and I got better.

Do you think that, that could have happened with her?
No, after 15 years it was a little late. To be like that for 15 years and then now to pull the plug…now that’s just sad. But, at the hospital where I go, the kids are like her, or worse off; they’re barely there. There are plenty more people in the world like that. Should we starve them too? They told my mom that I wouldn’t live past a day. Look at me now, 18 years later.

After a ½ hour of enlightening conversation with Amanda, I drove her to the hair place where her mom was. As I helped her out of the car, I couldn’t help but notice the crowd of onlookers staring at us as we walked down the street. And then I realized: No matter what Amanda, or any people who live like her think of themselves and think of the world, the world will always think of them as inhuman.