Hunger 



I escaped to the gym for half an hour this afternoon. At my gym, all the stairmasters and treadmils have their own personal television sets. I usually alternate between the "WE" bad movie of the week and trashy "E-entertainment" television. But the "WE" channel had a reality show of 12 men vying to be the next Harlequin romance novel cover model. (I'm not kidding. That's what it was.) And the "E" channel was showing a re-enactment of the Michael Jackson trial, complete with actors. (Again, I'm not kidding. They really do that.) Even I couldn't stomach either of those.

So, I hopped over to CNN, thinking I might catch up on world news. I immediately saw that Congress was in session. On a Sunday? Gosh, it must be important.

Nah, it was to intervene in the Schiavo case. I'm not going to express any opinions on the case - because I think the whole thing is a bit screwy. The parents seem a bit odd. The husband seems a bit odd. And the fact that she left no written instructions for this type of situation makes the whole thing quite complicated and not so very black/white.

But Congress? Is this their job? Did I miss something or did they get assimilated into the Judicial Branch? Or are they related to the family in some way? Do they work at the hospital she is in? Someone has to help me out here, I don't see the connection between this tragic family situation and the US Congress.

Now if they had called a special Sunday session because all of a sudden, they realized that there are 4 million children in America who go hungry each year and they wanted to pass some laws to make that not happen, I'd be all for that.

As for me, I think it is already in my will, but I will repeat it in writing here: If I ever end up in a "vegetable" state: please family and friends, don't hook my useless body up to a feeding tube for years and years. Let my soul go wherever it will go. My personal religious beliefs are that I'll be joining all my loved ones who have preceded me in death. Not a bad place to go. Much better than a cold, impersonal hospital room hooked up to machines.

Save the money it would take to keep my body artificially alive and use it to help those 4 million children. Or at least one of them. If we could put all the media and political attention that is currently focused on Schiavo on just one poor, hungry child - think of what we could accomplish. 

Posted: Sun - March 20, 2005 at 03:07 PM          

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