View From the Bushes

Unless you locked yourself in a cave for Lent, (in which case you won't be reading this till at least Monday anyway) you've heard about Terri Schiavo. I've been looking long and hard to find a really good listing of the facts and the timeline presented in as an objective manner as possible and I finally came across this page, which if nothing else, has a really great timeline. There was a lot of good stuff there, but I think the most interesting was this:

Recently, Michael received an offer of $1 million, and perhaps a second offer of $10 million, to walk away from this case and permit Terri's parents to care for her. These offers, assuming there were two, were based on a misunderstanding of the situation here. Michael lacks the power to undo the court order determining Terri's wishes and requiring the removal of her feeding tube. He did not make the decision and cannot unmake it. The court made the decision on Terri's behalf. Nonetheless, Michael apparently rejected each offer.

I knew about the million dollars, but I didn't know that Michael lacks the power to order the feeding tube re-inserted even if he changed his mind (that could be a good reason to turn down the money). I have to confess that much of the stuff I had read earlier (when this case was last in the news back in October of 2003) gave me the impression that the husband was a real scumbag. Since then I've changed my mind; (refusing the million dollars helped) to go through the kind of hate and venom he's surely been subjected to would take someone of enormous conviction, the kind of conviction I feel (or at least hope) is not available through baser emotions like greed or hate, but only more noble impulses like compassion and honor.

Carpe Diem Quam Minimum Credula Postero
Ross