Terri Schiavo’s parents have asked the protestors gathered outside her hospice to go home and let their daughter die in peace.
Schiavo Family Asks Protesters to Go Home (AP)
With their hopes of a miracle fading and other options exhausted, Terri Schiavo’s parents and siblings reached a quiet resignation Sunday and asked protesters to go home as the severely brain-damaged woman spent a ninth day without food and water.
Those outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo is being cared for were not as calm, with the first of what would be four morning arrests coming as ministers attempted to bring Schiavo Easter communion. About a half-dozen people in wheelchairs later got out of them and lay in the driveway, shouting “We’re not dead yet!”
Police protecting the hospice were loudly heckled, prompting Schiavo’s brother, Bobby Schindler, to come out and ask the protesters to tone down their behavior. “We are not going to solve the problem today by getting arrested,” he told the restless crowd of about three dozen people. “We can change laws, but we are not going to change them today. … You are not speaking for our family.”
With very few exceptions, protestors for any cause tend to represent its most obnoxious segment. The irony here, though, is that these people gathered to rail against the dehumanization of Terri Schiavo are contributing mightily to it. Not only does Terri Schiavo deserve to die with dignity but her family deserves to sit their final vigil with her in peace. Even though they’ve brought the spotlight on themselves with their public battle, they still should have some privacy during this time.
