Conjecture is a wonderful thing. We can justify most any action no matter how barbaric on the basis of conjecture. It is easy for us to imagine that starving a young woman to death is merciful or even moral just as long as we rest our arguments on our belief in what is life's quality and what is not. We get to decide without evidence that death is preferable to a diminished life because for some of us, that is what we desire for ourselves. So if it is good enough for me it should be codified into law and imposed on the helpless. That is only fair and compassionate. We remove our burden and can pat ourselves on the back and feel superior as we use moral relativism to assure each other that death is right and life is wrong if that life doesn't measure up to our quality standards.

Here's a thought. Perhaps this young woman of diminished capacity is in a dream state where she is standing in a beautiful garden surrounded by bunnies and flowers. Or maybe she is perched on the edge of infinity seeing the wonder of the creation. Since her brain has been damaged, perhaps it is in an endless loop, but she doesn't care because she relives each instance of it in the delight of first impression. That could be her reality. I could be wrong…it is merely conjecture. It is as valid a conjecture as those who think that by starving her to death they do her a service. “Not knowing” hardly ever gets in the way of good intentions these days.

What if the religious zealots are correct and by killing her we speed her along to an eternity of punishment and damnation because of some transgression we can only guess about? This is a conjecture based on faith. It could just as easily be a trip to paradise to live among the angels. It could just wink her out of existence with not even an awareness of the void. She could be reborn as a Democrat or other lower life form. Who's to know?

If she is brain dead and has no cognitive functionality at all, then whether she lives or dies has no bearing at all on her as a human individual. Her death is merely a convenience on one side and a tragedy on the other. Either event is not related to the young woman at all, but is related only to the spectators who imagine they have a stake in her life or the end of her life. All too often, we imagine ourselves a collective entity where we live and die as a community. Such thinking leads to death and destruction on an unimaginable scale when applied to nations. When applied at the individual level, injustice is often the only outcome.

There is one certainty that exists that is not conjecture at all and that is that we only get one chance to err on the side of death. Once we push her over that singular abyss we haven't the power to pull her back and reconsider our actions. This self assured and selfish act is a final solution to a problem we have invented. It is not a dilemma of Terri's making. Killing her is an act of secular zealots and opposites are equal.