Life Is Just Too Precious

This weekend I spent time visiting my grandmother (she will be mad that I didn’t call her Nana). We talked over sweet ice tea and some juicy watermelon. She told me stories about my grandfather, when he was a teenager and how he used to sneak out of high school and smoke cigarettes with her brother. She said they got into so much trouble back in those days. I cherish that time with my Nana. She tells the greatest stories! For one Christmas I gave her a journal and asked her to write down all of her stories so that I will be able to remember them and read them to my own children one day. I am pretty sure she thought that I just didn’t want to hear her rattle them off anymore. That could not have been further from the truth! Her stories give life to something that is dead to me.  My father and grandfather have both passed away and these stories bring them back to life, even if just for a moment. These stories are precious to me because they are about life.

                I think that everyone can agree that life is valuable. We all value our own lives. Everyone has a natural right to their own life. We all have the right to existence, to live without others being allowed to take our life. Now everything I have said up until this point, I assume that the majority of people agree with me. Liberals, Conservatives, Communists, Socialists, and Anarchists all agree that life is valuable, thus they are so valiant in defending their philosophy of how to protect life or create the most valuable society for life. The point at which disagreement starts is when discussing, “when exactly does life begin?”  Some may argue that life begins at birth, others when a fetus can exist  on its own, a number of others believe at conception, and there are a few that believe that mothers can decide when life begins up to a year or two of the child being born.

                I am not so naïve to think that I will be able to change anyone’s mind so I will just give my opinion to open the doors either in your mind or in discussion. I believe that all DNA that makes up the human anatomy is present in the zygote. For those that do not understand the medical term, that is where the sperm and ovum unite. I believe that is where life begins. The rest of life DNA is adapting to its environment. Sometimes it will not be able to speak, think, eat, walk, and make a living on its own, but that is the way life is. There have been several instances in my childhood where my mother had to take care of me when I was unable to do some of those things and if she had not she would have been held accountable. What difference does it make if her baby is in her body or out of her body? She is still responsible until the child has become an adult.

                Many people think that it is the right of a woman to do what she wants with her body. I agree with that statement. I believe that any human being should be allowed to ingest whatever substance they want whenever they want to. The issue I have is that when a woman is pregnant, I believe that she has a human being inside of her from the very start of her pregnancy. She is not only affecting her body, but someone else’s. If you want to harm your body then go for it. But if in harming your body you are also harming someone else’s, then it is wrong. Any form of force outside of self-defense is wrong.

                That is my view on abortion. You might not agree and you might be angry or excited about what I just said. I don’t really care. The issue is that we have an epidemic in America. We have a group of individuals that believes this is okay and it is causing a crumble in our morality. We have 2,149 children being aborted every single day. Do you realize that there are 5,000 adults every day that agree with and practice abortion? That is one doctor and one mother. You can say that these women have the right to what is in their uterus and have the right to remove that parasite, but please remember you once use to be that parasite.

                Now, a common argument for abortion is that if this practice is outlawed, there would still be abortion. I completely agree. You cannot force people to believe what you believe, the war on drugs can attest to that. The problem is that we have a holocaust-like event taking place in America and we cannot sit by and do nothing. What we have to do is try to change the mind of the public then the law will follow. We have to speak out to these women that are having children and do not think that they can make it. We cannot demand that these teenagers and young adults keep their children and then allow them and their children to starve. This does not mean that we enable these people through welfare, but that we help out those near us through charity.

                Charity and love are what should bring us together. My father died when I was nine. My mother was left to raise four children by herself. There were so many people that helped her care for us. Teens from our local church helped with the yard work and babysitting. My uncles helped when the basement was leaking. I remember others bringing us meals. So many people pulled together and then my mother was able to provide for her children. On the other end, I watched my grandfather lose his memory for almost 10 years. I saw my grandmother, my Nana, stand by his bed side for all those years. Using her nursing skills that she had learned over the years and providing for him while he could no longer think, read, eat, walk, and communicate. She spoke for him and provided for his needs when he could not. I call on us to speak up and provide for those that cannot, whatever age they might be from conception to 96. It should not matter what stage of life a person is in, every life is valuable. Let every innocent human being know that there are those of us that cannot and will not sit by and watch their abuse, because life is just too precious.