Rest in peace Terri Schiavo

Salient points from a NY Times editorial:

One of the most astonishing things about the human experience is the realization that loved ones die. The first time it happens, we are invariably amazed that nearly everyone who has ever lived has weathered an experience so wrenching. We see other humans on the street and in the shops and marvel that they manage to simply go about their business [and] that there is no constant, universal, primal scream in the face of such an awful fact.

That level of grief seldom brings out the noblest emotions. The sufferers can barely make their way through the day, let alone summon their best reserves of patience and compassion for the lucky people who continue to be living.

May Terri Shiavo's husband, parents, siblings, and other loved ones, finally find comfort, or at least closure. I think Terri Schiavo would have wanted that.

The frightening thing about the case was that other people, far more powerful and far less emotionally involved, looked at the world we live in today, in which politics is about maximizing hysteria at the margins.

I hope that we have learned again the importance of loving our democracy more than loving our politicians.

Finally, for the tens of thousands of other people who suffer from being trapped between this world and the next, may their wishes be known, and may their loved ones respect those wishes.

Rest in peace, Theresa Marie.

Oh...one more thing. When we think of Terri Schiavo, rather than the pictures of a debilitated woman used to exploit the public's emotions, I suggest we hold in our memories an image of Terri as I think she would prefer to be remembered: