Letting Go

For all I've written and, in fact, all that so many have written on Terri Schiavo, the time is growing near to let go, to say goodbye and fare thee well.

While I certainly believe that her loved ones should have said goodbye a long time ago, we must all admit that saying goodbye is a damn hard thing to do, particularly when it's a final farewell.

For all the pontificating about heaven, hell, the afterlife, reincarnation or nothingness, none of us knows for sure what comes once the light is snuffed out for good. It is this uncertain mystery that breeds our anxiousness about death and causes most to want to hold onto to the lives of loved ones, even when those lives become only a shell of the former self.

While I certainly don't agree with the efforts of the Shindler family, my heart goes out to them nonetheless. Besides, who among us can say that, if it was OUR child or spouse, we might not behave so different from them? Yes, in the sterile blogosphere, we can say we would never act that way, but who really knows what actions each of us might/may take when it's OUR family member.

This whole tragic ordeal has forced the rest of us to think about death, both our own and for those we love. As many have written and we all should know, each of us will die someday. If we want to go, in a particular manner, it would behoove each of us to provide directives for our care.

If nothing else, this will become Terri Schiavo's legacy.