By the time you pick up our paper and read this Terri Schaivo will either be dead, going on day 14 without food, or had her stomach tube reinserted by gubernatorial intervention. With all this in mind, I can’t help but think how selfish some people are. Everyone talks about her right to live, but what about her right to die.

A few months ago my father, whom I love more then anything, had a major blood clot in his femoral artery. As I met him at the hospital, he looked me dead in my eyes and told me that if the clot were to travel to his heart, “I don’t want heroics, let me die.” Then I had to sign a release saying that if my father were to take a turn for the worse that the doctors were to not use machines to keep him alive.

That night I went home and I cried. I cried because I knew that if my father were to take a turn for the worse, there was nothing I could do. It was his will, it was what he wanted. By the grace of God, my father is OK, and he’s back at home seated atop his perch yelling at me for my various, random acts of stupidity.

I was lucky, I still have my dad. Michael Schaivo isn’t so lucky. His wife had a heart attack fifteen years ago and has been in a vegetative state ever since. Terri’s parents are strict Catholics and don’t care what Terri might of wanted, they believe they should keep her alive, via a feeding tube in her stomach.

Her husband and legal guardian has been fighting to have the tube removed. I, like many people have tried to find a negative motive in Michael’s desire to end his wife’s life. I can’t find one. Neither could the courts, that’s why they granted Mr. Schaivo’s request to remove the tube. I mean the guy gave up his job and became a nurse so he could take care of her for Christ’s sake.

People are calling out again and again that Terri has a right to life. My question is, if Terri has the right to life does she also have the right to death? The courts decided that she did. The only thing that can prevent Terri’s death now is the intervention of Jeb Bush, who has said that he will not interfere with the Supreme Court’s decision to allow her to die.

Pro-lifers and the heavy-handed Christian right have shown up in throngs to, “defend her right to life.” But what about her right to death? If they believe so strongly in the grace of God, why don’t they want to be with God? Whatever their reason may be, I think it’s odd that they don’t think about the possibility that Terri has a right to die, instead of being in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.

I know how Terri’s parents feel, the prospect of losing someone you love more than anything in the world is a horrible experience. Sometimes you have to stop thinking about what you want, and focus on what’s best for person you love.

My father looked at me and told me he didn’t want heroics, the question is: did Terri Schaivo want heroics or did Terri Schaivo want to die?