Taking My Hat Off to "A Rational LIberal"

My dear friend, Toby, is a liberal with whom anyone in St. Blogs would enjoy crossing swords. She is open minded to others' reasoning, truly tolerant, and can hold her own intelligently but without heat in any verbal debate. One of the many things I admire about Toby so much is that she thinks for herself and never stops examining issues until she has considered every side of an argument. She also is the friend who spurred my thinking about federal involvement in Terri Schiavo's case.

Toby was so outraged over the federal government trying to step in that we "agreed to disagree" and stepped away from the discussion. However, that was not enough for Toby who hadn't heard of some of the information I had heard ... y'all would have laughed to hear us talking because we were both being so careful about qualifying our lack of documentation for much of what we had "heard." She's been out of town and I've had other things on my mind so I had forgotten all about our conversation. I was really surprised to find this comment from her this morning ... but I shouldn't have been. She's been busy thinking and investigating and isn't afraid to admit a change in position based on new information.

I have been surprised at the level of my ambivalence over this tragedy. I would call myself a "rational liberal" (stop laughing!) ...and am seriously conflicted over how much I want the government in my life. We always want it to be consistent with our selfish desires, don't we?

I freely admit that I formed an opinion before learning the details. Some of the "details" are fraught with hyperbole and difficult to believe. Motives are questionable, emotions are high. But the primary issue that has moved me from "let her go" to "examine more" is the absence of CURRENT testing.

We have a friend that has recovered from a devastating lack of oxygen to her brain ...she was diagnosed as having only "brain stem" activity, and would be unable to regain any kind of awareness. Today she is verbal, functional and taking vocational rehabilitation. She even remembers her friends and family from before the incident. She will never be "her old self", but she has become a welcomed and cherished member of her assisted living home. She is a loving, supporting and truly caring friend to her fellow residents.

It can happen ...everything should be done to give Terri a chance.

How's that for a 180, Julie!

I'm just sorry that y'all don't have a chance to get to know Toby. She's one in a million!