I just spent 5 hours driving from Savannah, GA to Orlando, FL tonight. It was...FUN!!!! (not so much) Needless to say, I'm happy to be home.
The trip up was incredibly easy cuz I had a good source of entertainment - I listened to Rush Limbaugh for the first time in my life. I couldn't help but brag to my dad afterwards. He was very proud of me =p
Anyway, all that time in the car gave me the opportunity to let my brain wander. Among the topics that crossed my mind were my arguments for infant baptism, sanctity of motherhood, and fear of death.
Baptism can wait. Seeing as this is a morbid post, we'll go with the last two =p
First, fear of death. I have NEVER been afraid of death in my life. I just wasn't worried about it. I knew where I was going. I still do, but its more complicated now...and it really shouldn't be. However, I'm no longer this independent creature who, when death comes, will only leave behind aging parents and separated siblings and a handful of friends (I'm so cold, I know - I realize they love me very much and my death would be hard on them, but its really different now). When I became a wife, things started to change. Ok...engagement and the prospect of motherhood really began the change. But the marriage and house actually solidified the first part and the birth solidified the second. First, here was this man who had just given up everything for me. He has invested the rest of his life in me. He loves me. Not because he has to because he's a good person. He loves me because he chose to. I don't want to die anytime soon because of that - I don't want him to be left behind with all this stuff he put together for our life together with no life together.
Then there was Ethan. And every time I think of dying now, it involves Ethan crying for me and my not coming to him. And that just tears me up inside. IN a very bad way.
And then this went in a new direction - abortion and all these stories of mothers hurting their children. And I finally understand why mothers doing this appalls me so much more than hearing about fathers doing such things.
You see, from the moment of conception to birth, a baby is relying solely on its mother for survival. Its life is so utterly dependent on the mother. And here is this woman, with this child in her safe-keeping, who violates that protection that her body is providing for her child - violating the very purpose of her body at that point in time - and destroying it for some stupid, selfish reason.
And then, after birth, that child so naturally and instinctually trusts implicitly and loves unconditionally this woman who has just given birth to him. Fathers, they learn to trust in those first days, first weeks, first months - mothers = trust to them.
So when a mother harms her child, she is violating and betraying that trust. She throws away the only one who truly loves unconditionally.
Its horrid.
Enough. I'm going to bed with my hubby now.
2 comments:
Something to consider:
Mom's aren't hurting just their children when they have an abortion - before, during, and after. For some, it's a product of desperation - not inherent maliciousness. The wife of an abuser might seek an abortion because she doesn't want her child to be beat like she is every day... an rape victim might not be able to emotionally stand being further "punished" for something she had no control over...
Not saying you're wrong...abortion is a heartbreaking, devastating thing. It is most definitely the ending of a life - something that is always tragic - and anyone who says otherwise is lying to him/herself.
Just saying this is a difficult issue with lots of layers...I think it's easy to operate under the illusion that abortion is the "easy" way out, when it is anything but: there is a heavy, heavy, price to pay, and I think we need to have compassion for any woma who - being aware of that price and having weighed her options - chooses to pay it.
Because let's face it: if a woman is driven so far as to have an abortion - if she has seriously thought about it - there is something significant and often traumatazing going on in her life compelling her to do it.
If she is willing to endure a lifetime of "what if's", guilt, and emotional hardships, imagine how horrendous her current suffering must be. Unimaginable. Suffocating.
Abortion is a tragic thing. I will even go so far as to say that it - in and of itself - is a bad thing. The ending of life is always horrible...
...but I think calling a woman who chooses to have one "stupid" or "selfish" shows a stunning lack of compassion. Be horrified, be heartbroken: but don't judge. Each woman's journey is different. The woman who makes the heart-shattering decision to have an abortion is in just as much need of understanding as the woman who is brave enough to keep her child and face adversity, scorn, and shame.
Love.
Just a thought.
You haven't had this conversation with me before so you don't really know how far my compassion actually goes in this regard.
But seriously, Megan, .04% have abortions for the reasons you state.
That's a hell of a lot of them that occur for selfish reasons.
And its not that small percentage I criticize - its the other 99.6%.
I do have an older post about how much compassion I do give on it.
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