Terri Schiavo's parents, in conjunction with the National Urban Policy Action Council, a Michigan-based nonprofit whose mission is to "promote fiscally responsible compassionate conservative public policies," have declared Mar. 31 "Terri Schiavo Day."

What are we commemorating? Terri Schiavo Day is a "celebration of the 'Culture of Life' as well as celebrating the woman who sacrificed her life for this cause."

Terri Schiavo "sacrificed her life" for the Culture of Life? More correctly, she was taken off of life support after it was determined that she was brain dead, despite the wishes of her parents, who had no say in the matter, and despite the wrongful intervention of the U.S. Congress, the Conservative Christians of which tried to use Terri Schiavo's case to lobby for their Conservative Christian constituents.

Recall also that Bill Frist, a doctor, diagnosed Terri Schiavo as not brain dead after merely watching a videotape of her. He later said that he never did such a thing, despite the fact that he is on record as having done it. After her death, Terri's brain was autopsied and it was determined that much of it -- including her occipital lobe, which is responsible for vision -- had died, making a recovery impossible.

The insidious inference of the Culture of Life is that any life is a good life, even if that life is one of vegetation, paralysis, constant pain. Conservative Christians who have no idea what it is like to live a life in constant pain pass judgment upon those who do live their lives in pain or coma, insisting that just being alive is a gift and that it is not their place to throw away what God gave them. The people in constant pain or coma, if they're able, have radically different stories to tell. Theirs are not stories filled with joy at waking up each morning, thankful to be alive, but stories of misery, stories of depression and anger, stories filled with a desire to die and be over with it.

Terri Schiavo Day is a celebration of passing judgment upon others without knowing what it's like to be in their places. It's a celebration of one group of people handing down morality to everyone else in a display of ignorant patronization. To usurp Terri Schiavo's name and memory for political gain and to suggest that she would rather have lived as an empty, blind, brain-dead shell than a thinking, feeling human being is monstrous.