Neanderpundit

What is your level of alertness? how cogniscent are you of your surroundings, right now? How immune are you to external stimuli?

Imagine how Ashley Smith feels right now.

There’s a moment when you face certain death- I know, because I’ve had this sensation up close and personal myself- when you get past that crucial moment, and your senses are turned up to 12. You have such a heightened awareness of your surroundings, that every dust mote seems to hold significance, every sensation is amplified.

Man, what a woman. I hope she has a book deal in her future, as well as reward money, and a flock of eager suitors from which she can, if she wants, pick and choose.

Specifically in relation to the post below (read that first, come back here) I am sure a lot of people will think “yeah, but if he knew that situation firsthand, he’d think differently”.

I DO know that situation firsthand, and I do not think differently.

Four years ago, when I had only been in this home a year, I had several trees cut down. My close friend Mike and his co-worker Dan came and helped me deal with the firewood- dozens of cords of it. This was the first time I met Dan, and from the first moment I liked him, liked him a lot. See, Danis one of those guys like me, does a lot of stuff for a lot of people, and frankly, does more than he should for most.

Not long after that, dan fell at work. he suffered severe brain trauma. He is in nearly perfect health. He will always be cared for, for the rest of his life. He lacks the capacity to use a bathroom. Each and every one of us that know him, want him not to suffer, see dan-but-not-dan, and wonder why.

But none of us have any desire to see him dead. He is a human being. Yes, it’s hard, yes it’s tragic. Yes, it’s our responsibility as humans to see to it that he’s cared for.

Via Eternity Road, an interesting piece by Pascal about Moral Relativism and it’s specific importance in the Terri Schiavo case.

As humans, with our self-contained brains, we can only experience the world through our own senses. We lack the ability to experience the world through another’s senses, no matter how we try. The most empathetic of us may be able to do a decent job of understanding, but that is about as far as it goes.

Thus, the only human life each of us finds most valuable is the one we inhabit. Our capacity to love allows us to value the lives of others, each to a different degree.

Forty years ago, Terri Schiavo would have died. Fifteen years ago, when she suffered the heart attack that left her in her present condition, she was resuscitated. Fifteen years ago, the efforts that were expended to save her life were done so because her life had perceived value.

Now, her life is not what it might have been, and the perception is, the quality of her life is lessened. Yes, she lacks the quality of life, but she still has the usual quantity of life, and that is the same as you and me: 1. Her husband would like to take that figure to 0. He wants “closure”. Here’s a little closure for you pal:

(from merriam Webster)

mur·der

1 : the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought

nuff said?