You have all spent a great deal of time convincing me that for all intents and purposes, Terri is dead, dead, dead. Her brain pan filled with fluid. An ex-person.

Whose body is it? Hers? There's no "her" any more.

You can't simultaneously keep declaring that her existence as a human being is no more, and then try to discuss what she "wants."

Yes, to a great degree this is about Terri's parents, because they are living, aware people with minds and feelings.

What is lost and what is gained by allowing them to keep her the way she is instead of killing her by inches before their eyes? Will she "suffer" from the status quo? How??

Would Michael Schiavo, who has a new "wife" and two children, and a new life, suffer from her staying alive? HOW?

"He's doing it for Terri" Hello? Terri ISN'T THERE. What? He's doing it in her memory? To fulfill a "wish" only he and two of his relatives have testified to, yet has been declared an absolute fact by many here? What's the point? She doesn't HAVE wishes any more. There are people here and now that need to be dealt with.

Is this sheer vindictiveness? What's the goddam point of killing a supposed breathing vegetable while two living, aware people suffer this kind of heartbreak?

Who's gaining? Who's losing? Does Michael hate these two old people this much? Would he suffer nearly as much from Terri's existence as her parents are suffering from her death and utter loss of all hope?

***

People ask me if I would want to live like this. A vegetable with no brain, existing forever with a feeding tube in my gut.

My answer is, if my loved ones, my parents and family, held out hope--realistic or not--as they cared for me, loved me, held my hand, looked into my eyes, talked to me and heard my responses--imagined or not--then yes. A hundred times, yes. I would gladly exist that way for fifty years. What harm would it be to me, if I really had no mind? And what if I actually did have hope of recovery?

I would take a bullet for my family. Most people here would do the same. Why would this be any less of a sacrifice for their sake?

Sometimes it is all about someone else.