If you’re not someone wrapped up in the obsession over the case of Terri Schiavo and have asked yourselves: “Don’t they have any shame?” you now have the answer.
No.
Now the poor dead woman’s grave marker has been literally dragged into it.,,,
First, there was Florida Governor Jeb Bush who, right after the autospy report concluded that Terri Schiavo’s brain was the size of a pea and that she had not been abused ordered a new investigation into the 911 call. Except for those on talk shows (and in comments boxes on weblogs) who are claiming (without proof) that it was murder, many people felt Bush’s behavior was outrageous.
And, now, you have her husband Michael Schiavo doing something with the gravestone that seems truly petty and quite unusual in terms of what gravestones say. The Washington Post:
TAMPA, Fla. — The burial of Terri Schiavo’s cremated remains didn’t bring an end to the acrimony between her husband and her family.
Michael Schiavo angered his late wife’s family Monday by not notifying them about the burial beforehand and by inscribing on her bronze grave marker the words “I kept my promise.”
Michael Schiavo _ who said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially _ also listed Feb. 25, 1990, as the date his wife “Departed this Earth.”
On that date, Schiavo collapsed and fell into what most doctors said was an irreversible vegetative state.
Schiavo actually died March 31, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order. The grave marker lists that date as when Schiavo was “at peace.”
David Gibbs, an attorney for the woman’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, decried the inscriptions on the marker. “Obviously, that’s a real shot and another unkind act toward a grieving mom and dad,” Gibbs said.
Indeed, we can’t think of many instances where someone put THEIR MESSAGE on a tombstone. “I kept my promise” would normally be words said by the deceased. And the “Departed this Earth” date is not the date that would normally be placed on any tombstone.
It seems as if Jeb Bush and Michael Schiavo have a lot in common.
UPDATE: Terri Schiavo’s brother-in-law told the AP that the inscription was not meant to anger the Schindlers:
The inscription on the grave marker belonging to Terri Schiavo that reads “I kept my promise” is simply a message from her husband to his dead wife and is not meant to anger her family, the woman’s brother-in-law said Tuesday.
Brian Schiavo told The Associated Press that he and a handful of other people attended the burial of Terri Schiavo’s remains on a rainy Monday afternoon at a Clearwater cemetery. Others present included her husband, Michael Schiavo, her other brother-in-law, Steve Schiavo, and a priest.
But the woman’s parents criticized Michael Schiavo for not notifying them about the burial beforehand and by inscribing “I kept my promise” on the bronze marker. Michael Schiavo had said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially — a critical element of the acrimonious legal battle over her end-of-life wishes.
“That was something he was feeling,” Brian Schiavo said Tuesday. “It would have been very easy for him to walk away from this thing. But they had as promise to each other and he stuck by it.”
Responding to Gibbs’ statements he added:
But Brian Schiavo said the Schindlers “shouldn’t consider themselves that important.”
“I know the Schindlers look at it as a slap in the face,” Brian Schiavo said. “They had nothing to do with it. That was based from Michael to Terri.”
Gibbs did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.