I was going to title this 'Andy Rooney must be kicking in the box', but I just realized he isn't dead yet...

So I broke down and asked the question at the office today--who is Terri Schiavo? Since there was a litany of discussion going on about her, I thought maybe I would make conversation and poke my head out into the real world of 'news' a bit. Well, I found out. I read the articles. I've briefly examined the debates.

Having just come off a week long trial where slovenly investigation lead to the dubious presentation of scant evidence by nonetheless well-meaning (I can only assume) attorneys, I can only image the tenuousness of the process and the desperation that the parties involved must feel in the absence of any real concrete directives.
I don't intend to share any opinion on the whole situation, except to say that I feel for the people who were emotionally wrapped up in the case.

What I do think bears mentioning (or re-affirming, as it's been brought well up) is the necessity for a living will, or some legal document that would offer a more satisfactory solution to this popularized debate. Look, I have a degree in Philosophy. I know how mind numbing and frustrating it can be to try to analyze a concept to death, let alone a situation or an actual person (And I'm not attempting to be callous with the pun). So this is what I would suggest:

"Would you like to register to vote today?"
"Yes, I would."
"Do you have your License or other identification, your proof of local address, and your proof of living will?”
"I don't have a living will..."
"Then you're not going to register to vote today."
I mean, since the president's feedback comes into play in these cases, you ought to be able to incorporate that into your selection process.

Or perhaps: "Here's your Diploma, but first, have you completed your living will?"

If we incorporate this into the education process, and we should, since it's been shown to bear so heavily upon the nation's conscience, it is something that can be required of our graduates. A 'coming of age', 'welcome to your country' kind of thing. A kind of "in the next three years, ten of you will be dead, 18 of you will be pregnant, .6 of you will be vegetables--who's judgment are YOU going to rely upon?" I don't know. Regardless of how we incorporate it, it's obvious that medicine and science has brought us to a place where we are not inclined to lean on faith-based decision making (or perhaps that, too, has been stretched), and so the more we can spell out, the less room room we leave for existential debate.

Or, just maybe, we need the debate more than we need the solution. Now that's the suggestion of a dutiful Philosophy student...

Now, you want to know how I really feel? The American Media has somehow turned from a non-biased national event reference and commentary to an all-consuming tree of knowledge beneath which all the light of free thought and objectivity is blocked. Perhaps the next feeding tube we pull should be from it.