3 posts tagged “life”

I saw a friend’s facebook status update.  She hates Mother’s Day because of the recent loss of her mother.  My heart went out to her.  I have grown to hate Mother’s Day, but for different reasons.

 

My hubby and I don’t have children and I learned over the years not to put myself through going to church on Mother’s and Father’s Days.  Generally speaking for a childless couple, church on those days is an exercise in innocent torture devices.  And since I’m no fan of silent unseen knives and daggers… I’ve learned to skip.

 

I remember walking in on a conversation that my Father-in-law was having with someone about Father’s Day at church.  He was griping that their church didn’t celebrate it much because it caused pain for infertile couples and he went on at length about how wrong that was.  He said being a father is something that should be celebrated and he didn’t know why that should be taken away from him just because some people are touchy.  He said he’d been a good father and he was proud of that.  And in his opinion this sensitivity thing had gone so far that it took the fun out of things for everyone.  I said nothing, just walked away as he continued to expound on the theme.  I suppose it was worth pointing out that one infertile couple in a congregation can ruin the celebration of Mother’s Day for everyone by being all selfish and thin skinned (providing the celebration has actually been tailored with any sensitivity whatsoever.)  It really is such an audacity to suggest that church should NOT be the place where one’s raw places are treated to a deluxe case of superiority and insensitivity.  And yes, he knew I was in the room observing the conversation.  And yes, he knew our situation.  And yes, he blithered on like a leaky faucet anyway.  (Emphatic Explicative!) 

 

Jesus said "Forgive them for they know not what they do."  But what about when they DO know what they are doing and do it anyway?  Still then?  (Yeah!)  There are aspects of this "follower of Jesus" thing is no walk in the park.  Good thing I don't have to do it by myself.

 

I’ve seen the outline for the service for Sunday.  I’ve been given the week off the worship team and I will be mercifully absent.  And I suspect there will be some other empty seats as well.  Hubby on the other hand, has to run sound and will attend despite what is planned.

 

I’m glad there is a Mother’s Day.  I wouldn’t want to dampen the joy for anyone because motherhood is indeed a cool thing.  All kinds of deserving (and undeserving) mammals get the singular pleasure of delivering a beautiful tiny helpless version of them (or die trying.)  And generally speaking, after the initial mess is over with, baby animals are really cool, especially baby humans.  There is so much destiny and purpose in each deep breath of life filling up those tiny lungs!  Yeah, there is definitely something about the little screamers!

 

And one day that will be me.  We have started the adoption process and it’s entirely possible that my children are already out there somewhere.  And if they are born, then they are already mine – whether or not I can hold them tonight.  But we are not far enough along in the process to have a referral so it’s still pretty hard to wrap my head around that at the moment.  We’re just in a weird in-between phase.  And maybe this will be my last year skipping the indecencies of a Sunday morning torture session.  And maybe not.

 

There will come a time when I’ll celebrate Mother’s Day with my children around me, grateful that finely there was an answer to a prayer I’ve prayed for nearly two decades.  But I’ll never celebrate without an eye out for those with tears in their eyes on that day.  And I’ll understand far too well why their spot at church may be empty on certain Sundays.  And I’ll add my own prayers to all of theirs in the hopes that God will give them the desires of their hearts.  Yes, my turn will come.  But I will never forget what it was like to be on the outside looking in.  Yes, for a long time, all Abraham had were the stars in a dark night sky.

I am not one of those people who vote on one issue alone, but this afternoon I gave some thought and research to the subject of abortion.  If I were to vote according to this one issue, where would my vote go?  Where do the candidates stand on the issues when it comes to the issue of protecting the life of the unborn?

 

Predictably, Republicans McCain, Romney and Huckabee believe that Roe V Wade should be overturned.  Obama clearly states that the government should not make abortion choices for women; the mother and her community are best suited to make those difficult decisions.  And Clinton supports making abortion safe, legal and rare. 

 

These are complex issues.  I agree with Obama that the government should not be in the business of telling birth families what choice is right for them since the government can not foretell the situation a woman finds herself in.  I agree with McCain that the government should not be providing funding for abortion services.  I agree with Huckabee that parents should be notified when an underage girl chooses to abort her baby.  And finally, I agree with McCain, Romney and Huckabee that the Partial Birth Abortion Ban should be supported.  And I'm impressed by Clinton's long record of successful proactive work to reduce and prevent unwanted pregnancies through education.

 

I would like to see more women chose adoption over abortion and I believe that adoption should be part of the abortion debate.  It's not just a question of whether or not to have an abortion - it's a question of what is best for the child.  I think the government should support both the birth parents and the adoptive family in the choice to adopt.  Given the rates of infertility in this country, having a proactive approach to adoption is simply good politics and very much an addition to the “right to life” debate.   

 

I am glad that Clinton has supported making the adoption credit increase permanent and has also worked to increase adoptions from foster care.  McCain, who has an adopted daughter, has also voted to make the adoption credit increase permanent.  Romney is in favor of making the adoption credit increase permanent, and is working to raise awareness about embryonic adoption, or snowflake babies.  In a world where every little bit counts, these are fantastic! 

 

I think Clinton has taken the edge off of her full tilt pro-abortion stance through her record on proactive measures to reduce the number of babies potentially aborted through education as well as her record on increasing adoption from foster care.  Her actions and her words agree, she wants abortion "safe, legal and rare." 

 

Huckabee is the candidate of the religious right, and is “actively and aggressively pro-life” but a full tilt anti-abortion stance is incomplete without proactive measures to reduce unwanted pregnancies in the first place.  Saying “don’t have sex” just doesn’t work.  What is missing in his campaign material is his full support for the adoption option so a child can find his or her forever family.  It is not enough to tell a country that there will be no more abortions and then do nothing about the alternatives to abortion. 

 

Various candidates make a number of mistakes in my opinion.  I understand Obama’s nuanced views on abortion but I believe his mistake is the omission of adoption from his plan.  And Clinton and Huckabee overshoot the issue with Clinton’s plan to make Roe V Wade into federal law and Huckabee’s plan for a right to life amendment to the constitution. 

 

After weighing the pros and cons of abortion politics in the current race - I think McCain or Romney have the most moderate and well reasoned stance on this issue.  And if I were to vote on this issue alone, either of these men would have my vote.  Which is interesting because that is not what I would have said before I did the research.   

 

Have you done your research?

I started here:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.abortion.html

And also visited:

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4891

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/family/

http://obama.senate.gov/issues/

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm

http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Romney_Agenda_10.26.07

http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=11

 

 

What do I want?  This simple question was in a friend’s blog.  (http://sueyoung.vox.com/library/post/what-do-you-want-1.html) It was her question from the Lord, repeated to a degree that she took notice.  I read it and tried to ignore it for a while.  Didn’t work.  So now I’m simply probing what I want, (a lot of stuff!!) which leads to asking what I’m praying for, if anything.  And if I want something, but have not been or do not pray for it  – well then, why?  So in the process of writing this, I realized that there are actually a pretty long list of things I want, and some are pretty complicated actually.  But perhaps the list of things I want isn’t as interesting as whether or not I actually pray that these things will change, or put some human effort into the cause.  So I’ll be posting a series of blog posts over the coming days about what I want, and what I’m praying for, or if I’m not praying for these things, then why?  I’m going to start with an easy one. 

 

Politics.  Yeah, deep breath for that one.  Brace yourself.

Ok, don't.

Look at my picture - I'm pretty harmless looking, right?

:)

 

What do I want?  To be a part of a political movement that is simply pro-life, even after the womb.  Across the board, post-womb pro-life. 

 

I’m not even pro-life in the traditional sense, though I think abortion is pretty much just plain sick.  But if we’re going to call this one thing a moral horror then let’s not be complete hypocrites about it. 

 

War is a pro life issue.  To think that we can sow violence and reap peace is to be completely ignorant of history and humanity to a colossal degree.  Injustice breeds more terrorism – didn’t we see this with the way WW1 ended?  The injustices that were created in the ending of that war, the poverty and humiliation gave birth to one of the worst terrorists this earth has seen.  And things have not changed. 

Sow injustice – reap terror.  It’s a simple law of the garden, whatever you put in the earth will reproduce after its own kind.  Sow torture, rendition and Gitmo and expect to reap PEACE?  Come on!  Every gardener knows better than that!  This is a pro life issue with serious ramifications for Americans

around the world!  Can’t we learn from someone besides the bad guys?  How about Ghandi! Nelson Mandela!  Desmond Tutu!  Dr Martin Luther King!  We’ve got people who have heroically and humbly shown us a better way.  Let’s pay attention!  Please!  Argh!

 

The death penalty is a pro life issue (well, duh!)  If killing an unborn child is a crime against humanity, how about an adult?  And what about when one race is overwhelmingly represented on death row because of the inadequate work of public defenders, poor detective work, poverty and

the absolute indifference of the media?  It is interesting that other developed countries look at America and shake their heads that we still kill people in our retributive and punitive justice system that is based on vengeance.  Vengeance belongs to God, as does the choice of when a human life begins and ends.

 

KATRINA is a pro life issue!  I mean get real people!

  What the insurance industry has been able to get away with in post Katrina America is a freakin CRIME!  This isn’t some developing country!  We should be spending as much on this situation as we are on Afghanistan and Iraq!  These are OUR OWN people!  Tour the area now, two -almost three years later and you’ll see whole neighborhoods that are still nothing but empty dirt and debris. 

Where is the moral outrage of the populace and the strength and indignation of the government and the commentary of the media?  Out to freakin lunch!  It’s such a nice lunch to – light casual gourmet organic fare with a glass of chardonnay… *BARF!* Out of sight, out of mind.  What a shame, in the land of the free, the home of the brave.  One of the richest countries in the world.  What a freakin shame! 

 

We should be standing up to Israel and telling them that oppressing the people within their own borders is just plain stupid, and why don’t we just give the Palestinians a postage stamp to call their own and quit being such jerks about it?!  To think that GOD would condone this kind of behavior based on some Old Testament theological twist is a completely moronic concept!  If Israel is the Promised Land that is God’s favorite patch of dirt, then how could we condone the existence of such injustice – especially in His Land – IN HIS NAME?  It’s time to read more than three verses of that Bible text and start to underline the word “JUSTICE” every now and then.  It might even change our politics!  *gasp!*  Well, it could happen.

 

Oh wait, I didn’t mean to get side tracked onto foreign affairs…  Back to our own soil.  Uh yeah, our soil!  Apparently our approach to the hole in the ozone is to build a pile of trash big enough to plug it up manually.  We consume an incredible amount of pre-packed individual serving food, not to mention single use plastic bottles, newsprint and my favorite earth horror:  Walmart bags.  When my hubby and I worked in an area hit (bullseye!) by Katrina we saw Walmart bags completely blanketing the neighborhood close to where the Walmart had been.  Wrapped around freaking everything.  Oh, it was eerie! 

 Reduce, reuse, recycle!  But it’s more than that, we need to be protecting our national park treasures and paying attention to some of the horrible mining and logging that’s being done in different out of the way places in this country.  And drilling for oil in pristine wilderness?  WTH?  Is nothing sacred?  And emissions are important, air land and water emissions – run off into our waterways is a concern.  And then there are the international agreements we’ve broken – because we are the biggest brat in the sand box.  Really, if we don’t get a handle on what we are doing to the environment, then we will literally be leaving our children not just an inconvenience and a mess to clean up – we will be leaving them a life and death situation.  It is unconscionable that this is not part of the political debate among people of faith.  The environment is fast becoming a serious pro-life issue!   

 

And then there are the children, who go without heath care in this country because three things are stacked against them – poverty, lack of health insurance and a morally corrupt government whose votes are bought and sold on the open market.  No child should be left behind in this country by not having access to needed preventative medicine, health care and/or health insurance.  Families brought to the complete financial brink by the expenses of an illness of a child should be helped by the government of and by the (reasonable) people.  To ignore the crisis while the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical industries continue to show profits in the stratosphere while millions of poor children go untreated, denied reasonable treatment in the face of illness is immoral and shameful.  Health care for poor Americans is definitively a pro–life issue.   

 

Don’t get me started on all the moral superiority that seems to go hand in hand with the

“pro-life” agenda while being blind to all the ways our government causes and allows death and destruction.  What do I want?  I want BUSH to have a change of HEART!  But maybe it's a bit late for all that - we are in up to our nose hairs.  I want to have my voice heard in the upcoming political elections that being pro-life in this country needs to include LIFE AFTER THE WOMB!  That one little dangerous insane thing is WHAT I WANT! 

 

That's all.

Yeah,

That's all.

 

:)