Day: March 25, 2005

I do take requests, and this one is from my son, Kyle. He asked me to do a story about one of his favorite movies, Jaws. One of our favorite scenes is when Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) is scooping chum off the back of the boat. With the camera facing down toward the stern where the chief is working, he turns toward the bow of the “Orca” and shouts, “Hey, why don’t you come down here and chum some of this shit.” Suddenly, the massive Great White bursts up out of the water toward the Chief. He lurches back and is scared shitless.
In a classic understatement, he says, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Thanks to Kyle for that great story idea.

While that was my sentiment earlier this week, today I’ve been thinking about the situation of Terri Schiavo apart from the maze of legal efforts and political exploitation. If she were the child who spent her first nights of life sleeping against your beating heart, could you just let her die? If she, as a toddler, ran into your arms each day you came home from work, could you just let her die? If that toddler broke down crying at hearing a song about a lion’s father dying, and blurted, “I don’t want you to die,” could you just let her die? If she sang like an angel and could elicit laughter with acting, could you just let her die? If there were even the slightest hope that someday medicine could light up her creative mind, could you just let her die? If she were your daughter, could you?