Print friendly
From the Editor
Resting in peace
By Judi McLeodWednesday, June 22, 2005
Her gravesite may be festooned in flowers, but "Rest in Peace" is something Terri Schindler has been deprived of in death.
Date of birth and date of death are often the last things written for those who have departed this Earth, a timeworn testimony to the conventional practice that leans on societal respect for the dead left on untold scores of graves the world over.
Convention and respect for the dead seem to fly out the window when it comes to widower Michael Schiavo and his flamboyantly bizarre attorney, George Felos.
In somewhat ghoulish fashion, Schiavo and Felos resurrected the Terri Schiavo saga back to life on Monday, from the backdrop of a Florida cemetery.
It's in sync with the death-is-beautiful hype that marred the Easter weekend deathbed reports from Felos in front of Woodside Hospice.
In this force-fed fairytale spin on a helpless woman deprived of food and water, Terri Schiavo didn't die. Neither did she pass on when she gave up the spirit on March 31, 2005. No matter what anyone else thought, she was simply "at peace" on that day.
A marker on Terri Schiavo's grave at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater, says she "departed this earth" on February 25, 1990 and that she was "at peace" on March 31, 2005.
Defiant even now, the words of her husband: "I kept my promise"–a reference to his letting her die rather than live--will see Terri through eternity.
Where's the peace here?
Terri Schiavo's death, which came almost two weeks after her feeding tube was unmercifully removed by court order, captured world attention.
Two days after her death when all eyes were on the lights of Pope John Paul II's Vatican apartment windows, Terri Schiavo was cremated and her husband Michael Schiavo was given possession of her remains.
Michael Schiavo seemed to drop off the publicity radar screen and his attorney along with him. It was even rumoured at the time that Michael and fiancé Jody went into hiding after Terri's death.
Both Michael Schiavo and his attorney reappeared Monday when Terri's ashes were buried, not at the family plot in Pennsylvania as had been hinted, but in Clearwater, near where Schiavo is said to reside.
Felos did the lawyerly thing by faxing Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler the news of the new burial site, but reporters had got there first.
Leave it to this dying-with-dignity crusader to come creeping back into public spotlight from a cemetery.
Like giving a teddybear instead of a drop of water to a woman dying of dehydration, this dreadful duo left their final words on a dead woman's grave marker.
There's an old adage that says those looking for revenge should bring enough shovels to build two graves. Terri's ashes are interred at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park. Michael needs to find another far off cemetery to bury his full-blown bitterness.
That's the only way some of us will ever Rest in Peace.
See Cover Story
Dancing on her graveCanada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
