Just an observation...
Mar. 31st, 2005 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jon_chaissonSo I'm sitting here with the UPN news playing in the background. They're playing the news about the Pope's poor health. It just so happens that I'd heard about his downturn at the same time that I'd heard about Terry Schiavo's death, and it made me wonder.
On the one hand, I could understand the husband's wish to unplug the feeding tube for Terry, even if the debate behind it was sketchy. What bothered me was the fact that the federal government got on the bandwagon--in an amazingly short time, mind you--to raise a big stink about it. I'm actually glad that the Supreme Court refused to get involved. And honestly, I'm sad that she suffered for so long, tube or no, but I'm glad that either way she is no longer suffering.
Now, on the other hand, we have the Pope, whose health has been failing for some time now. Let's be honest here for a moment--I've heard many people say how surprised they were that he was still alive and moving around. But for a moment let's put aside the fact that he's the most powerful, influential and revered person in Christianity today. Let's see him as a human, a frail old man whose health has been declining over the past few years. He has a kind spirit, and he is amazingly intelligent, but unfortunately his body is failing him. And yet...
And yet, simply because he's Pope, we have an untold number of people around the world who are helping, praying, doing what they can to keep him alive. Now, I'm not complaining that we as a human race are working with a strange sense of priorities here. I can understand more people follow the Pope simply because he's a spiritual leader of a major religion.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm just worried that, like the Schiavo case, the Pope is going to end up on life support so he can stay alive as long as his caretakers can keep him alive. I'm just worried that they're going to keep him as Pope, regardless as to his ability to keep that role as his health eventually declines more. I'm just hoping that either the Pope himself or someone equally as able will decide to have him step down before the idea of Pope becames a caricature, like a certain political leader we all know.
But hey, like I said, just an observation...
On the one hand, I could understand the husband's wish to unplug the feeding tube for Terry, even if the debate behind it was sketchy. What bothered me was the fact that the federal government got on the bandwagon--in an amazingly short time, mind you--to raise a big stink about it. I'm actually glad that the Supreme Court refused to get involved. And honestly, I'm sad that she suffered for so long, tube or no, but I'm glad that either way she is no longer suffering.
Now, on the other hand, we have the Pope, whose health has been failing for some time now. Let's be honest here for a moment--I've heard many people say how surprised they were that he was still alive and moving around. But for a moment let's put aside the fact that he's the most powerful, influential and revered person in Christianity today. Let's see him as a human, a frail old man whose health has been declining over the past few years. He has a kind spirit, and he is amazingly intelligent, but unfortunately his body is failing him. And yet...
And yet, simply because he's Pope, we have an untold number of people around the world who are helping, praying, doing what they can to keep him alive. Now, I'm not complaining that we as a human race are working with a strange sense of priorities here. I can understand more people follow the Pope simply because he's a spiritual leader of a major religion.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm just worried that, like the Schiavo case, the Pope is going to end up on life support so he can stay alive as long as his caretakers can keep him alive. I'm just worried that they're going to keep him as Pope, regardless as to his ability to keep that role as his health eventually declines more. I'm just hoping that either the Pope himself or someone equally as able will decide to have him step down before the idea of Pope becames a caricature, like a certain political leader we all know.
But hey, like I said, just an observation...
