It looks like the case — pardon me, The Case — is moving to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. When I think of this fact, I shake my head slowly and start to imagine what this means for 56 Forsyth Street in Downtown Atlanta. Pretty soon, the protestors parked in Pinellas Park will divide and conquer, sending a representative contingent north to the front steps of the Tuttle Building. I wonder who will stand as an ambassador for the family. Will it be Colonel “Bo” Gritz and his Fellowship of Eternal Warriors, or Randall Terry and select operatives from Operation Rescue? Regardless, there will be prayers and fasts and vigils and signs, all of them incredibly emotional with concern that is visible from 5,000 feet, because that’s what all of these upstanding folks are called to do.
I’m not going to debate the issue at hand. I have my opinion. You have yours. I’m not even going to mention the woman’s name, because I believe far too many people are using her already to wind their way into the spotlight. Instead, I’m going to say what I expect of Col Gritz, Mr Terry, Congressman Delay and anyone else who has gone out of their way to voice their strong objection to a decision made in a courtroom years ago.
Should the woman in question persist beyond this week or the next, either through the reapplication of medically-applied sustenance or some miracle here-to-fore unseen, I want to see all of you taking your turn. When it comes time for her to be bathed, I expect each of you to step up and offer your personal assistance. When her sanitary needs must be met, I want to read of your diligence and attention to detail. When her linens must be turned, when her monitors must be checked, one or more of you should be only a silent wish away, possibly sleeping in the waiting room or covering a shift at the nurse’s station. When it looks like her medical trust or even Medicaid is just not going to cover the entireity of her care, I would like to know that your wallets are ready and open, your pens are poised over your checkbooks. If the therapy she has been somehow missing is three or four states overs or a world away, I want you on the phone to the airline with your credit card in hand.
That is going the full measure. That is taking the ball and running. That is barely scratching the surface of commitment that your declared compassion rightly deserves. Making a sign, standing in the grass and praying under the hot lights of a television camera is one thing, but refining those printed words into sustained actions is quite another.
