Everyone has an opinion

Everyone has an opinion on whether what happened to Terri Shievo was right or wrong. As to who should replace the pope and millions of other issues.

My viewpoint is.....be willing to share your opinions, be willing to defend your reasoning, be willing to learn and take into account other facts that may adjust your opinion. In no case, should your opinion be FORCED onto someone else. It is interesting to see how many people are willing to express their opinions in public forums, to communicate their outrage or their viewpoint at the top of their lungs, but neglect to communicate with those they live with and see every day of their lives.

Terri's battle is over with no winner, the pope has done his best and now leaves his duties to the next person to complete with their vision and to the best of THEIR abilities.......now everyone needs to do these things for themselves.

TALK to your family....make sure everyone understands where you stand on important issues of who should raise your children, what should be done with your items, what health items you want performed or don't want performed. This is the single most important thing you can do after the will and living will. The written will assist for when you pass on, the living will can help for when you can not make decisions for yourself, but none of it will mean a thing without the help and support of the family and friends that will be there at the time of need. THEY are the ones that will make the decisions that will affect you and those around you. In some states, even the written document can be overwritten by your family (For example, in my state, I can be an organ donor, sign my driver license and have it witnessed and my family can override my wishes at the end). The pope made his wishes known that he did not want any more treatments at the hospital and the people around him respected them. Terri did not make it clear to her family and to make sure ALL of them knew what she wanted. Why? because no one wants to think of their own mortality or talk about it. Even if I disagree about Terri's situation being brought to the light in the manner used, at least her legacy is in getting people to plan better and to COMMUNICATE with their family members. Even in my family, Easter dinner ended up with everyone discussing their wishes if and when something happens. So to that, I say thank you to Terri and her family for making my family discuss difficult topics that needed to be addressed for those terrible situations like this.