xlrq wonders why several of us who supported Michael Schiavo in his right to decide the fate of his wife against state action have not condemned him for his rather smug inscription on Terri Schiavo’s tombstone:
Schiavo’s Remains Buried Amid Acrimony (AP)
The burial of Terri Schiavo’s cremated remains didn’t bring an end to the acrimony between her husband and her family. Michael Schiavo angered his late wife’s family Monday by not notifying them about the burial beforehand and by inscribing on her bronze grave marker the words “I kept my promise.” Michael Schiavo – who said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially – also listed Feb. 25, 1990, as the date his wife “Departed this Earth.” On that date, Schiavo collapsed and fell into what most doctors said was an irreversible vegetative state.
Schiavo actually died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order. The grave marker lists that date as when Schiavo was “at peace.”
I don’t find myself particularly angered at this since, while making a point in such a way strikes me as unseemly, it’s entirely his business. A funeral and a tombstone exist entirely for the comfort of the living; the dead don’t much care. Michael Schiavo endured years of public scorn and lies perpetrated by the Schindler family; if he finds satisfaction in putting his version of events on a piece of rock that he paid for, more power to him.
