Florida Supreme Court

The Fox News website has an article posted today entitled: Supreme Court Clears Way to Pull Schiavo's Feeding Tube. You can read the full article here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145214,00.html

Terri Schiavo is 41-years old. Her heart stopped several years ago, causing brain damage. She can no longer speak and cannot swallow. Therefore, in order to keep her alive, a feeding tube has been inserted down her throat.

Apparantly, the Supreme Court's definition-of-the-week for "a valid human being" now includes the ability to swallow food. Frankly, if the qualifications get any more complex, we are all in danger of the Supreme Court's noose.

Maybe we should put people to death for being too feeble to wake up each morning without the aid of an alarm clock, or perhaps for being too simple-minded to be able to drive their cars without the aid of an ignition key.

My point is simply that every human being alive uses tools and technology to assist them. Not everyone can walk, talk, hear, see, or do college-level calculus. Needing a wheelchair, special computers, hearing aids, glasses, and calculators are things invented to help us, not signs of weakness. No matter how many of these aids one person needs to rely upon doesn't define or take away from the totality of their worth as a human being.

We live in a society that idolizes communication. Every new invention has to do with communication: e-mail, cell phones, computers, the Internet, video conference phones, text messaging, chat rooms, instant messengers....the list is endless. The sad thing is, we have come to worship communication so much, that we have begun to despise and look down upon people with the inability to participate.