Overload

That’s where I am today. I don’t often pay much attention to any but the local news, but it is hard to escape the news about Terri Schiavo. I feel so sad for her parents and family and that is multiplied by the death of the grandson of two of our friends. Sixteen years old, and last Friday he made a u-turn in front of a truck carrying a load of steel. He was finally declared brain dead and taken off of life support Tuesday. So I’m thinking about brain dead and vegetative state. I know vegetative state from sitting in front of the TV for too long and often felt like I was brain dead after some insane days at work. Both states are pretty miserable, but I still didn’t want to starve.

I’m also thinking of my mentally retarded brother and how the sheltered workshop where he works has begun calling all of the kids (that’s what I call them even though many of them are in their forties and fifties) that work there consumers. They even refer to them as consumers on the ‘incident report’ sheet. Interestingly, one of the boxes that can be checked for resolution to an incident is ‘death of consumer’. I guess that’s what will happen in Terri Schaivo’s case. The incident will be resolved by ‘death of consumer’. It appears that public opinion thinks she is consuming too much: media attention, medical attention, a small space in a small bed. What remains to be seen is what will happen to all of us in this consumer oriented society.