I could not stop sobbing last night. It was a deep, mournful, crushing sorrow that forced out uncontrollable anguish as I cried out to God. That is how profoundly heartbroken I am.
Never have I been so ashamed of our human race, so pained by the depth of our aptitude to live in the darkness of evil. I'm still reeling.
First, I want you assure you this is NOT a partisan political statement. This is directed to Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians and anyone of the human race. It doesn't matter if you are Pro-Choice or Pro-Life. We need to work together and talk about this.
Most of us have at least heard the news stories involving the undercover videos of officials from Planned Parenthood discussing the harvesting and selling of fetal tissue and body parts. Just writing that sentence seems vile, but I feel compelled to talk about this issue.
Perhaps mistakenly, last night I watched the lastest video that features a doctor discussing the selling of organs and body parts with fake "buyers". But, it gets exponentially more horrific when they go into a lab and examine actual body parts from aborted fetuses.
That is when I went from horrified to utterly heartbroken. My whole spirit was crushed.
God, have mercy on us all.
PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THE VIDEO! It is the most disturbing thing I've seen and it will forever haunt me. I will never be able to remove the images and the awful words with their evil and callous inflection from my mind. You do NOT want to see it.
But, here is what is important. These unborn children - call them whatever you choose, fetuses, embryos, babies - they have tiny body parts just like you and me (they showed those parts in graphic detail in the video). Whether you believe life begins at conception or later; whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, whether you are Republican or Democrat or neither, don't these lives at least deserve a modicum of dignity in their handling and disposition?
Can we all agree on that? Can we come together as humans and say that handling and disposition of what would have become a beautiful human life should be respectful and reverent?
That is all the good I'm asking to come from this terrible situation.
It is completely crushing me that humans have plunged to such dark depths of insensitivity and callousness toward life that we feel no loss or sadness or reverence when we look at a tiny human being that is now lost to the world.
Can we talk about the sanctity of life? Can we grieve more, and be more outraged at how unborn bodies are treated than how a famous lion was murdered? (I grieved the lion too, by the way)
I'm not trying to change abortion laws or point the finger at one political party or another. I just want our society to value human life, even human life that is being voluntarily terminated. We even afford prisoners who are about to be executed for their crimes the dignity of a last meal, a visit with clergy, and a chance to speak their last words out loud. Their remains are treated with respect, not prodded and picked apart and thrown in the trash. Can we do the same for aborted humans? Is that too much to ask?
Honestly, I'd like to defund Planned Parenthood. Personally, I'd like to close them down. But, I would settle for a change in their culture to one that treats every human life, no matter how small, with dignity and respect. Can we all agree on that?
Now, let's talk about being pro-life. What does that mean? We need to check our societal self righteousness at the door because our resumes are sorely lacking any depth when it comes to truly believing in the sanctity of life.
Sister Joan Chittister, a Catholic nun, said this:
"I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."
Now we can argue about those statements as Republicans or Democrats, or we can do something positive together. Together.
Together we can say that children truly matter. Together we can help the most vulnerable in our society with more than empty words. Together we can put aside our differences and our power struggles and agree that we want all children to have enough nutritious food to eat, a decent and safe place to live, and a good solid education. Together we can put our money where our mouths are and spend what it takes to do these 3 things.
Food. Shelter. Education. For children.
In this nation, with all our wealth and resources and blessings, we can do this. We can act as if children's lives matter in this country, not only with our words, but with our money. What is stopping us?
Will we allow political differences or pride or selfishness or foolishness to keep us from giving our children the basics of life - in one of the richest countries on earth? REALLY?
We must act together. We must act together or we will surely destroy ourselves, our children and the future of our society.
I don't know about you. But, I know I can't stand by and do nothing. Please write to your Congressmen. Call them. Tweet them. Send them this blog. Just tell them.
Tell them that American children matter. Tell them to put our tax dollars to good use for food, shelter, and education for every child. Tell them to stop bickering and agree on one thing - children's lives matter. Tell them they can cut other programs and fight about the money for their pet projects and pork barrel spending, but that programs for food, shelter and education for children are non-negotiable.
If we could make this one change, putting money and resources into the lives of this country's children, then maybe the worst of humanity represented in those videos would be a little less crushing.
God, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
Be love and be blessed,
