REAL REALITY During the weeks of the Terri Schiavo experience, what have we - the American populace - learned - if anything?
For one thing we should have found that reality in-the-raw, as it might be called, has very little to connection with to that which the clever TV producers have made it seem to be for thousands - make that “millions” - of men and women and worst of all - young people/children who have been to be lobo- lathed with a fantasy thought to be real because it is made to appear to be harsh and demanding.
The deeds which casually questing men and women are asked to perform on TV's versions of “reality” are carried out other than by the hidden means used to make it seem so potentially disastrous on film. You are not allowed to see the foamed cushion which breaks a victim's seeming “free” fall. You do not know what precautions have been in place when TV pictures individuals being gored by strange, forked horns of Mother Nature, nerds in herds or glamorous femme de fatale caricatures of all types of evil. True reality - of the type we have come to be aware of in recent weeks in Florida - endanger far more than life and limb ferreting out the innermost recesses of our consciousness of being alive. Choosing a wrong path; seeking a special advantage; stepping into the unknown, or unknowable, can sear the soul.
Fine men of good character, many with strong views one way or the other went “as far as they could” in favor of their particular choice. Governor Jeb Bush of Florida has been criticized for doing what he has done and also for what he has chosen not to do. He considers the suggested actions to be illegal while others insist it has been done before – which, to them, at east, make it legal. Jeb Bush, it seems, has decided be true to his oath as Governor of the State of Florida, to uphold the rule of law. Governor Jeb Bush ,of Florida, will probably be a scapegoat of many losers on both sides when all of this is ended by Terri Schiavo's death. Bush has been c criticized for that which he has done by some and others find fault with him for not following their suggestions.
We have learned, perhaps that it is never wise, as a general rule, to try to mix sentiment and politics. It is an oil-water situation and never the twain shall mix well.
The religious aspects of the standoff have been amazingly light. Final rites were said this morning (March 28th) and I have heard several people say that it was unfortunate that the Pope has been seriously ill in Rome and has been unable to comment on the situation in Florida. Prayer in the Protestant manner has been evident at the hostel demonstration area. The religious emphasis has ween from the so-called evangelical side of protestant groups rather than the “organized” churches.
I rather doubt we have learned any enduring lessons. Far too much information concerning the case was founded on a few home-TV clips showing the way the victim looked and acted in August of 2001, and in '02 and '03, but little or nothing of how she was doing at we were being told of her problems.
Straightforward truth may well have saved her life for a time.
A.L.M. March 28, 2005 [c577wds]
