Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Unhappy Anniversary

I believe yesterday was the anniversary of the death (by legalized murder) of Terri Schiavo. We really ought not forget what Nat Hentoff called "the longest public execution in American History."

They also serve who only stand and wait.

In a couple days, be sure to remember one whose passing coincided eerily with her own.

7 comments:

LanceThruster said...
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Lydia McGrew said...

Rest eternal grant unto her, oh Lord, and may light perpetual shine upon her.

And we also bless thy name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, including Terri, beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service.

I will never forget the year and the day they had started murdering her. It was Talent Night, such as we just had and that I mentioned on here. All the children's performances--mostly other people's kids--were just stabs for some reason that night.

William Luse said...

What would have been more dignified than starving her? Lethal injection? Beheading? Stay off my site moron. The post was a remembrance of her, not an invitation to vent for proponents of murder. They've already had their say.

Thanks for the beautiful prayer, Lydia.

All the children's performances--mostly other people's kids--were just stabs for some reason that night.

Could you elaborate a bit? I'm not quite understanding.

LanceThruster said...
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LanceThruster said...
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Lydia McGrew said...

I'm sorry for being a little incoherent, there, Bill. We have this big Talent Night here every year for home schoolers. It can get pretty long, and you get all these kids, from really little up to teenagers, getting up and doing things--piano, recitation, solos, duets, choirs--everything you can imagine. Two years ago when they were starting to murder Terri, they had removed her tube on the Friday afternoon, and Talent Night was the Friday night. I was all wrapped up in the Terri thing and had been watching the Internet avidly hoping some miracle would come through until late that afternoon. Then I went to Talent Night all emotional about it, and for some reason watching all those beautiful children getting up and singing and doing stuff really got to me. I think, because Terri was the Schindlers' daughter, and this was what was happening to her and what they were going through. My own daughter's performance (I think it was a poem recitation that year) and the children's group I directed didn't get me so much because I felt technically involved in them, even if only vicariously (when watching her), in thinking about the details of how they needed to go. But there were I remember these two adorable children, brother and sister, who sang a song about Christ's death. One I didn't know, so I haven't remembered. But that one had me in tears.

Still, my own reactions are less important than what happened.

The first of the prayers is (you probably already know this) from the liturgy for a requiem Mass. The second, with which you're probably not as familiar, is the remembrance of the dead as part of the Communion prayer in the Cranmerian Book of Common Prayer.

Anonymous said...

Ah, I see now.

you probably already know this

Don't ever assume that I know anything, even if it's Catholic stuff. But I was familiar with both prayers, since I have owned that Cranmerian Book of Common Prayer since childhood. At least I think it's Cranmerian.