A woman has passed from this earth - could she ever have imagined in her fairly short life the rapt attention the processes of her death have brought to her?

The news from the United States was full of ferocious antagonism between her natural family and her family of choice - namely her husband. The US news also afforded us all a wonderful opportunity to look deep into these antagonisms, contradictions and painfully ironic absurdities surrounding the issues of the right to life and the right to a death of dignity and self-determination.

I support the increasing ability of people worldwide to have a voice in how they move from life into death. Today's medical wonders can keep severely injured or terminally ill people alive far longer than seems right and just to me.

I have been in close proximity to many people of various ages and conditions as they have passed from this life. I note that each of these individuals seemed particularly interested in "passing on" when their time had come and not being left to lie as a vegetative body in a hospital or as a forgetful (and possibly forgotten) victim of Alzheimer's. What I recall distinctly was that each of these individuals took great comfort in knowing they had lived their life to the best of their capabilities and desired some degree of control over how and when they departed their loved ones. In fact, each of these individuals was overtly concerned that their family members not be tortured by unwanted medical interventions to keep them alive. Each desired, it seemed to me, to die as they had lived - among their loved ones and with a degree of self-determination and human dignity.

So what can we make of the fire and brimstone being tossed about in the name of Terri Schiavo?

Personally, I believe time will show us what the legacy of this woman's wishes and her husband's efforts and her parents' actions and words will be. But I do believe that we will see an increased voice for the ill and dying. The media will continue to give full-voice to the arguments surrounding Terri Schiavo's case and to the ongoing discussions regarding the right to life and also to the right to death. The public will pore over the media reports and engage in deep searching and private questions and thoughts about this undeniable aspect of human existence: death. I believe we may be lucky and find that the disquieting, even disturbing scenes between Terri Schiavo's family members will impel the US public and legislative bodies to grant a greater voice to individuals regarding the conditions and circumstances of death.

I hope the living legacy of Terri Schiavo includes acts that humanize the processes of our deaths and admonishes those who seek to politicize something as sacred as the right of an individual to choose the methods, circumstances and timing of her\his departure from this world, friends and family. I hope the living legacy of Terri Schiavo humanizes us as humans and places human dignity and respect at the fore instead of allowing the legal/medical realm to dictate how humans pass from this precious existence.