Thursday, March 31, 2005

The end

Terri Schiavo died today and I don't feel sad at all; in fact, I feel nothing but relief that finally, finally this sorry spectacle is over and that Terri Schiavo is at peace. My detachment over Terri's death is not a question of heartlessness as without a personal connection to Terri, any emotion I profess to feel could be correctly construed as insincere. Any condolence I offer would be of the most perfunctory and automatic nature, rendering any words worthless.

I look at pictures of mourners throwing themselves upon the manicured lawns of the Woodside Hospice Facility and I wonder at the profoundness of their grief for a woman they never knew in life, yet feel like she's one of their own. There's an emotional distance they've managed to cross, but it's one that seems next to impossible to me. Whether it's genuine grief at the passing of one woman -- when such drama and death plays out every single day in every single state -- or whether this show of grief is really concealing disappointment over a 'defeat' for the anti-abortion forces. I find the latter more understandable and honest than the former, but I understand why the confusion exists.

No comments: