Terri's Day needs financial support: Battle cry for culture of life success

By Kevin Fobbs

In America, we put a price on everything except on life and the right to live. In the last couple months I have been told that a life once over is done, finished, kaput... not essential because it's over. When you probe a little deeper about what if it was their life which was treated with such indifference, or what if their little son or daughter were murdered right in front of nearly 300 million onlookers and literally torn from their loving embrace because she was now a burden (as defined by the courts), then does it make that child's life worth any less than, say, a movie ticket, a baseball or hockey game ticket, or a ride at an amusement park?

I know you are amazed that we often are told we can't do anything about winning the war for the culture of life, our own American culture that is unique in the world. I have even heard such pronouncements from close friends who would rather shout at the darkness at the "MoveOn.orgs" and their ilk complaining how many millions are spent by these organizations that fully embrace and exalt a death culture than do something so simple as paying the cost of a few movie rentals to join in with millions of their fellow Americans to stop the Culture of Death right in its tracks.

I say we must stop the death culture in America by standing up for Terri Schiavo's legacy and for the Culture of Life because the gun is fully loaded and pointed at our children, at our parents, at our siblings, at our wives and at our loved ones.

In Michigan there is a movement that is picking up steam and being led by a true warrior for the right to live, Cal Zastrow. The Citizens for Life petition drive — if and when it is successful — will place on the ballot the proposition that a life begins at conception and has due process protection, which is not an attempt to ban abortion but rather is an affirmative move to affirm a child's constitutional right to live in Michigan. The Citizens for Life campaign as well as the Terri's Day Michigan Senate Resolution and the pending Michigan House Resolution makes Michigan ground zero for the Culture of Life and the right to live battleground.

The honoring of Terri Schiavo and celebration of the Culture of Life through Terri's Day and the right for a baby at conception to have Constitutional protection are challenging our own personal beliefs. We are having our principles stretched — and for many, like myself, in a very discomforting manner. We would rather sacrifice our principles upon the altar of convenient commercialism that measures our lives in cell phone calls dropped, new MP3 devices, or other high-tech electronic devices because it allows us to ignore the cries for life that an unborn baby who will never be heard utters, or turn the page on a grandmother who, while elderly, is not quite as alert as she was at 70–10 years earlier — and may cause a loving son or daughter to avert their guilt by nodding in affirmation to the medical provider to just end her life because to do otherwise would be inconvenient for the family.

I spoke with a woman who was going to purchase some routine last-minute items for her weekend guests and in the same motion claimed it was the liberal press killing the Culture of Life. After all, with parties, entertaining, and other socializing to think about, who would have time to worry about someone else's heartbreak? She said that Terri Schiavo's death was tragic but the odds for changing anything was so difficult, so insurmountable that the odds were not in favor of changing the course of history.

But she was wrong on both counts. The liberal mainstream media may be the merchant or the tool, but it is the men and women in America who stand comfortably on the sidelines until it is their turn to make the decision or be affected by the decision of others to end their life.

Secondly, close to 230 years ago, a group of men gathered and determined that the cost of creating a nation based upon the foundation of freedom and of biblical principles that respected life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were not just impossible pursuits. Did the Founding Fathers pause to measure what the cost of freedom was weighed against the cost of each life? Did the Founding Fathers pause to see what the media felt before they gave the full measure of their commitment? The odds may have appeared impossible but thank God they did not take a poll or weigh the odds before they let freedom reign in their hearts.

I have spoken with a number of religious leaders about Terri's Day and the meaning it holds, and while many are generally supportive of the idea that Terri Schiavo had a right to live and that her family had a right to take care of her when her husband moved on with a new fianc้ and two illegitimate children with her, they too have been voicing their concerns that we should move on as a nation because the odds of moving the nation to care is just too large a goal for Americans to accept in the 21st Century.

It is quite sad that the flock of these religious leaders would rather focus on building bigger churches, larger financial media personalities, or superior public images than looking squarely at their own heart at the guiding spirit that God gave them when they were ordained. Were not the odds seemingly impossible for a 30-year-old Jesus, as he began his ministry with the might of the Roman Empire weighing heavy upon his conscience and thousands of crucifixions occurring? Were the odds seemingly insurmountable for him as he had to counter his own religious establishment to preach a new covenant of life and what was the price that he had to pay? Should he have taken a poll to find out if his fellow countrymen were on his side before he embarked on his date with destiny?

Aren't the odds that Jesus faced or the odds our Founding Fathers faced, or the odds that American families like that of like of Andrea Clark's who are apparently experiencing incredible and possibly reprehensible actions underway at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas or Scott Thomas's (http://www.scottsfight.com/index.htm ) or other as well as the tens of thousands of families who have disabled, handicapped, elderly or young babies who are just on the pivot point of extinguishing a breath... or for the unborn never having been given the choice or the chance to take the first breath... What are their odds? What is the price that we are willing to pay to protect their life?

You should be tired of hearing someone saying that paying for life or for the right to live is a timing issue. As if whether or not you give financially or sign a pledge or circulate a petition to protect the right to life is based upon politically timing? That belief is never acceptable. It was not acceptable in the time of Jesus. Should he have said to his disciples, Paul, Matthew, Simon... "Today and for the next couple weeks, let's just wait and see what develops...because today...I'm just not feelin' it."

You should be tired of hearing your neighbor, co-worker or friend complain about having missed out on the latest DVD that Block Buster did not have, or the newest CD that she missed out on at Media Play or how your brother could have gotten you Kenny Rogers or Garth Brooks concert tickets...and ooh, man, wouldn't it just be great if you got your hand on those tickets!

We have an opportunity to take a small amount and do what Howard Dean did when he amassed over $15 million in an internet-driven war-chest campaign when he ran for president. He did it in record time and if we care about life, we can and will do the same. Is life just as important to find $5 for by sacrificing three slices of pizza? Is purchasing a smaller bag of dog food the difference between sending $5 to build a Culture of Life movement for the National Terri's Day Campaign and helping to support the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and its efforts?

I want to challenge all of my readers at Renew America (http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/fobbs) at Free Republic (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1596123/posts ) at GOPUSA (http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/kfobbs/ ) to give up a small amount of convenience to defeat the Culture of Death to draw the line for the Culture of Life.

In America, the odds are never too large, too insurmountable, too formidable... because for every small price we give we give the gift of life.

America, we have just begun to fight. America, we will stand firm. America, we will go the extra mile. America, we will win. Write me at Kevin@kevinfobbs.com if you want to be a part of helping to finance America's right to live. Share your feelings about Terri's Day, her legacy and the Culture of Life at www.kevinfobbs.com and support the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation at www.terrisfight.org.

MoveOn.org may be well funded and Howard Dean may have raised millions of dollars, but there are millions of Americans in every state in the nation who are unwilling to witness nor permit the battle cry to defeat the right to live nor for the fight for life and our Culture of Life to go unchallenged. Terri Schiavo's legacy is America's future...let's preserve it together.

© Kevin Fobbs