9:05 PM// You don't know Terri Schiavo, and neither do I.

Thousands of people die every day. Every day hundreds of people are fatal victims of gun violence in the USA alone. Thousands of children succumb to starvation every day, and they weren't in a "persistent vegetative state". Why aren't these protesters crying for them? I'm not saying they don't care about world hunger, but many people are not just protesting what has become an unfortunate political issue. They are truly moved by the Schiavo woman. Crying. Praying. For a woman they had never heard of before she was brain dead. Do they know what kind of person she is? Her morals? Was she kind or mean? Gentle or harsh? Generous or greedy? They have no idea.

…we're making a huge fuss over one woman who is already dead anyway, ignoring the hundreds who succumbed to starvation or AIDS while reading this article.

It is certainly a sticky issue. I'm glad the decision is not up to me, because I still don't know what I would do. But will I shed any tears over this woman I've never met, who has had no impact on my life or anyone I know, and who has been completely brain-dead since I was eight years old? I'm sorry, but I just can't. Just like I won't shed tears for the hundreds of people that will die today in a car accident, or those suffering from malicious tumors, tragic as those ailments are. And neither will you.

So why have masses of "the religious right" taken up candle-light vigils outside the hospital? Why do they value the plight of this brain-dead woman they've never known over the plight of that little Uganda kid we see in the TV ad next to Sally Struthers? Because Schiavo is closer to home? If it could happen to her, it could happen to you? It's easy to dissociate yourself from starving kids in Africa, a culture you'll probably never experience first hand. But Terri Schiavo "lives" right there in Florida.

The difference is that we can decide if Schiavo lives or dies, but victims of gun violence are already dead and you're not the one that pulled the trigger. Stroke, heart disease, motor vehicles, cancer, floods, hurricanes are all unfortunate things that happen. But why don't these same people camp outside of the Whitehouse begging the administration to send further aid to Africa, or other third world locations? That is a choice, and while we generally agree more needs to be done, we're making a huge fuss over one woman who is already dead anyway, ignoring the hundreds who succumbed to starvation or AIDS while reading this article. Because they didn't have enough food. Or medicine. Or people who care enough to shed a tear. Terri Schiavo has the monopoly on that.