Every life matters
The radicals of the Left sure do get animated about abortion. Put a measure on the ballot to legalize the surgical execution of their young, and more of them will show up to vote “yea” than showed up for the “save the Palestinians” rallies at Harvard last month. Just look at what happened in Ohio last Tuesday. They won a big one. They got an abortion rights amendment passed for the state constitution. While the defenders of the downtrodden celebrate the death of the unborn, I thought it would be a good time to tell my story.
The radicals refuse to discuss abortion as a moral issue. They think “choice” allows them to compartmentalize their intent from their actions. Okay -- fine. Let’s talk about it pragmatically. Does a life never born rob the community of something?
I’m no hero, celebrity, or saint. My life has been completely normal. I’ve done a few good things, and a bunch of bad things -- for which I ask the Lord’s forgiveness. I never joined the military. I haven’t run into any burning buildings or climbed any collapsing skyscrapers. I could not be more average. But I want to talk about a few of my deeds, because I have a point to make.
I was a practicing engineer for nearly 40 years. I designed a few products that made people’s lives easier, and I mentored a couple of dozen young engineers.
I am also an avid scuba diver. I’ve taught nearly a thousand other people how to enjoy the sport, along with a handful of police divers. In fact, I was a volunteer diver for the sheriff’s department myself -- recovering evidence, property, and the occasional body. Along the way, I prevented a couple of people from drowning, and administered first aid to a few others.
I’ve raised two children. My daughter is fiercely pro-life and my son is rabidly conservative. I’m currently teaching politics to my granddaughter and motor vehicle operations to my grandson. I couldn’t be prouder of them.
I don’t say any of that to brag, because most people would do the same things under similar circumstances. I’m just a normal guy, like any other you might run into at the store.
I mention those things because there’s something you don’t know about me. I’m adopted.
For whatever reason, my biological mother either didn’t want me, or couldn’t raise me. I don’t know her circumstances, and it doesn’t matter now. She will never be my mother -- that is an honor reserved for the woman who adopted me. But I still have tremendous affection for the woman who birthed me, because she chose life rather than death for me. She unselfishly carried me to term, and then entrusted me to another to love and raise. The woman who gave me life, chose my welfare over her convenience. That is no small thing.
None of the deeds I’ve done would have been possible without the decision that woman made. It may be egotistical to say, but I believe my presence makes the world just a tiny bit kinder for those around me -- just as they have enriched my life in return. Every life makes a difference -- some small, some large.
I have questions for any young woman considering abortion. How will her decision change the world? Could she be robbing the world of an average guy like me -- who will shovel her driveway on a snowy day? Or could she be denying the world someone extraordinary -- someone who could change the world for the better? That’s the mystery, and the miracle, of childbirth. But if she chooses death, she will never know what could have been.
If that young woman has car trouble on the way to her “reproductive healthcare,” and my son stops to change her tire -- I pray she realizes that her rescue is only possible because his mother chose life.
John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He writes for the American Free News Network and can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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