GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Oct. 23, 2003-- When does a person have the right to die?   Can society step in and stop the death of someone, who, according to medical experts, is already dead?   Or, should we all respect the right of life no matter what the world of science dictates?

      Terri Schiavo is the center of this moral and legal debate.   The 39-year-old woman's feeding tube was disconnected on Oct. 15 on orders from her husband.  Thirteen years ago her oxygen was cut off to her brain from a heart attack.   Doctors claim she is "brain dead" but her parents, in opposition to her husband, refuse to accept she is "legally dead."
      A resident of Florida, where the law allows the spouse not the parents to decide the right to die in the absence of written instructions, Ms. Schiavo's husband ordered the feeding tube removed so his wife could "die in dignity."
      On October 21, 2003, the Florida Legislature and House  rushed through a special bill HB 35E -  stopping the "dignified death," stirring a hornet's nest debate over whether the state has the right to interfere over the "dignified death" of another.  The law allows Florida's Governor, Jeb Bush, to issue an Executive Order allowing nutrition and hydration to be returned to the disabled Florida woman.
      Since 1990, Mrs. Schiavo has been dependent on feeding tubes to stay alive.    Her father, Bob Schindler, insists she is alert and active, "a live human being."
      Doctors attending her argue that her brain is filled with fluids, virtually ending her ability to exist in anything other than a vegetative state.
      The battle for the right to live or die is being fought on three fronts:  The courts, the legislature and the moral desires of family members.

       Florida courts allow the spouse to make the life and death decision by the spouse when there are no written instructions.    The radical decision by the Florida legislature to rush through a specific law to change the decision allowing Mrs. Schiavo to die throws a wrench into the question as to whom has the right to adjudicate life or death in critical medical situations.
       It stirs other issues such as abortion, forcing society to look at the morality of death and to decide the "right to die" issue that brings into conflict the rights of the individual versus the rights of society.
       Abortion laws favor the rights of the individual to decide whether a fetus can come to fruition or not.   Social rights take a back seat to the issue.   The right of society to enjoy another member in its ranks who may become a great asset to humanity is dwarfed by the seemingly selfish right of the individual to terminate that life before it i.e. he or she has a right to defend itself.
        Abortion issues have huge differences from the issue of Mrs. Schiavo in some areas.   But, the two cases are the same when it comes to the right to "kill" another human being.
        Terrorism is about killing.
        It kills our Courage, our Confidence, our ability to take Right Action.
        It turns winners into losers.  It converts stand-up people into mushrooms, hooding themselves from the world's issues, hiding in the damp darkness of Complacency's deepest shadows.
        Then, we must face a moral dilemma.
        Terri Schiavo looms up on our television screens, magazines and newspapers.  We see her eyes open.  We watch them blink.
        Batteries of doctors line up on either side, one group underscoring the scientific evidence she is "brain dead" and will not ever recover.
        The other group holds out the slim, fragile chance she might recover.

       On Ms. Schiavo's one side, stands her husband with a feeding tube in his hand, pulling it out of her body so she can die with "dignity" after thirteen years in a coma.
        Her parents stand on her other side refusing to believe the sliver of hope that she might recover is worth the agony of watching her day after day sit or lie in a helpless state of vegetation.
        Then there are the courts issuing edicts she can die, and the Florida Legislature passing emergency laws protecting her right to live even in the face of medical death.
        And we--we the people sit in audience--watching.
        We want to turn our heads in denial or shout our opinion about Terri's right to life or death.   But, we hedge.
        If we scream too loudly in favor of her right to die, we must ask ourselves how loudly we scream about the unborn child's right to live--for the moment society barks its opinion about life and death, it must collectively shed its individuality and assume the Parent of Vigilance role.
        Would a Parent of Vigilance arbitrarily deny the right of a child to live?
        Would society, as a body of parents, vote to kill a fetus growing in a woman's womb before the child had a right to live life?  To contribute to society?   To make a person smile when its cherub cheeks glistened in the soft sunlight and its tiny fingers grasped the hand of an old person, whose flesh was weathered by time and body scarred and worn by countless seasons?

        Society has a duty to protect children, despite the whims and wishes of the individual.
         Terri Schiavo's husband may be acting in accordance with the best of intentions by pulling the feeding tube from his wife.  But, no matter what, he is not the Parent of Vigilance.
         The Parent of Vigilance is we--the people.
         We should all vote not just about the life or death of Terri Schiavo, but about the life or death of the unborn children who are terminated at the rate of more than a million a year in the United States.
         From 1973-2002, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, more than 44 million abortions have been performed.   This year alone, an estimated 1.3 million fetuses will be terminated.   That's 433 times as many Terrorist deaths to unborn children as people killed in September 11, 2001 Terrorist attack.
          Our national Homeland Security systems to keep Terrorism from infiltrating our borders has one goal--to improve the safety and security of the average U.S. citizen.    Ultimately, it is to protect the children from the Beast of Terror.
          Homeland Security.   Does it begin with stopping Terri Schiavo's death?

         Or, does it start with looking at America's most vicious Terrorist--the right to terminate an unborn child?
          The vow of the Parents of Vigilance is to act in behalf of the Children's Children's Children.  That means a Parent of Vigilance must think through three generations.
          If I elect to kill a fetus before it is born, before it can produce children and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, I have taken the feeding tube out of the belly of future generations.  I have aborted the future.
         While it is easy for us to look at Terri Schiavo and feel either pity for her plight, or anger regarding the battle over her life or death, we must look at Terri Schiavo as a Parent of Vigilance.
         Her presence in our minds, on the news, and in moral discussion groups is, to me, a presence of a Sentinel of Vigilance.

        Alive in body and perhaps spirit, she is our Mirror of Vigilance.
         She demands us to look not at her, but at future generations of the unborn--those who, unlike her, have no rights to live or die to be put into question.
          The millions of children who will be aborted in the U.S. have no "right to die" and no "right to live."
          We allowed the Terrorists of Individuality to steal those rights from us, and, through our Fear, Intimidation and Complacency as a society, we continue to let the Beast of Terror kill our children before they can be seen, heard, or evolve into the magnificence of life.

        Whatever your feelings toward Terri Schiavo, I believe she is acting as a Sentinel of Vigilance.  She is asking you to look at her feeding tube and ask yourself--"Would you pull the feeding tube from a fetus?"
          If you wouldn't, then perhaps you should stand up for the unborn.
          I believe Terri Schiavo is.
          And the Beast of Terror doesn't like it.
         Show your support for Terri Schiavo.  Take the Pledge of Vigilance today.

Oct. 22--Computer Terrorism Foiled

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