Hmm. Since we have no idea

what promises the Schiavos may have made to each other, I don’t think anyone

can fairly comment on that part of the inscription.

Surely the contentious part is DEPARTED THIS EARTH FEBRUARY 25, 1990. That

is actually, or at least implicitly, a metaphysical statement, one that

contradicts the Schindlers’ religious beliefs.

Since Mr. Schiavo was in daily contact with his wife for 3 years after that

date, and was, by all accounts, struggling valiantly to get some kind of

response out of her during that time, with no success at all, I do think

he’s entitled to an opinion on when she departed this Earth. Furthermore

his opinion on this matter seems to me, in all probability, a true one. And

putting metaphysical statements on tombstones is not exactly a new practice.

That said, given the high level of rancor between him and the Schindlers,

it’s hard to believe that that part of the inscription was intended with no

malice at all. I don’t think malice, in any measure — and even against the

Schindlers, who strike me as extremely obnoxious people — has any place on

a gravestone. I wish Mr Schiavo could have finessed the issue somehow,

shown some charity. As obnoxious as the Schindlers may be, Mrs Schiavo was

their daughter.

Just leaving out that part of the inscription would have done it. I hope

that’s how I would have dealt with it, anyway. Though after 12 years of

wrestling with the Schindlers and their retinue, and fielding insults,

slanders, and death threats, I’m not sure I would have been able to restrain

malice any better than Mr. Schiavo has.