The dichotomy of life

I have been thinking about a lot of things in my past the last few weeks, and one thing that seems to rumbling around in my brain is related to our recent loss of Elijah, our born sleeping baby at 16 weeks.

I looked at his most perfectly formed feet and hands, his tiny ears starting to form, and was amazed by the beauty of his creation. The tiny muscles in his broad shoulders reminded me so much of Samuels. Even his sweet little hands held up by his face, like he was trying to find his thumb to suck. Stunning to see.

I remember the last ultrasound where Seth and I saw him moving around. He was so active. It looked like he was waving, and kicking his little legs so defiantly. His profile was so much like Samuels. Seth and I laughed as we saw his precious movement.

So, where do you think this is going? Perhaps not where you think.

I read an article the other day, talking about abortion and who gets them. So much propaganda out there talks about the 'babies on welfare' and the need for poor women to be able to control their family size, so they can get off welfare. Or, the rape victim having the ability to 'put behind her' the pain of the rape. And, even the innocent high schooler who has 'so much promise' and one mistake could take it all away.

This article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22689931/ shows how a recent study demonstrates that the majority of women getting abortions are terminating due to financial pressures of raising a child. A lot of them already have children! And the racial disparity is concerning. Some black leaders consider abortion to be a virtual genocide.

So, back to my ruminations.....as I remember Elijah, and his perfection, I grieve. I grieve for the women who have believed the lie that this 'tissue' is nothing more. That he was not a person.
What makes a 'fetus' a person. Is it only when a child is wanted, does it automatically become imbued with a soul? Or, does that soul exist, regardless of what we humans think?

In china, as they face a generation without women for their sons to marry, was economics the slippery plan of satan to wipe out their amazing culture. Or,did they do it to themselves, as they de-humanized so many aspects of life, in their pursuit of 'modernization'?

I am not catholic, but so much of the "Humanae Vitae" is fascinating and a powerful perspective on the sanctity of all human life, including the death penalty. I think that as a society, until we recognize that all people are valuable, whether they were planned or not, whether they be drug addicts or CEO's, whether they have Downs Syndrome or are valedictorians......we will constantly be faced with having to define the value of a human life by the people who attribute to it value, or choosing to discard that life based on standards that change with the wind.