Tom McMahon writes in alarm at over the prospect of legally killing Terri Schiavo.
In February 1991 our son Ryan suffered a severe brain injury. … Right now the chess game in the courts continues. And when Terri Schiavo is put to death, you all will feel bad about it for a while, but it will slowly fade from memory as you move on to other things. But for us, a haunting question will remain: When Will They Be Coming For Ryan?
His fear has a disturbing historic ring to it; Pastor Martin Niem?ller’s condemnation of himself (and by extension, his German countrymen) during the Third Reich:
In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me–and by that time no one was left to speak up.
In America, the cult of death has come first for “unwanted” babies, and now for wanted albeit extremely disabled people like Terri …
