I just can't sleep tonight, but lately, this is nothing new. Night after night, I'll toss and turn until the light reticently creeps through my curtains, flooding the room, letting me know that sleep has eluded me the entire night. Other nights I'll awaken in a fit of worry that will come upon me completely unaware. This may just be due to the fact that I'm getting old (Don't look at me that way; we all have to admit it at some point), and my mind is filled with the concerns that grow ever more bothersome as we age. I don't know for sure, but tonight, I'd like to try something different.
Tonight, I would like to use this forum to do a bit of writing, and whereas I don't usually believe in using the internet as a sounding board, I think that articulating some of my concerns on here might be therapeutic. Normally, I would never post these thoughts on the internet because I never want to offend anyone, and I hope that no one is offended by my opinions as they are just that, my own opinions. WARNING: If you have grown tired of my bleeding heart musings, please, just kindly roll your eyes, and roll on past this post.
A few things would just not go from my mind today. Firstly, we solemnly commemorated one of the most horrific genocides in human history, the Holocaust, which is estimated to have claimed the lives of eleven million human beings (six million being Jews). Secondly, we saw thousands of individuals participate in the March for Life advocating for the rights of the unborn, which is a very noble cause. However, I'm reflecting on both of these events today with a sad sense of irony in that we have also just learned of an order banning refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering the country. Now, this paradox calls to mind a question that I've been struggling with as of late: what does it mean to be truly pro-life?
I would imagine that, in our society, many may be tempted to define being pro-life as being anti-abortion, and I want to emphasize that this is a beautiful thing. As a Catholic, I personally don't support abortion either, although I don't judge others who feel differently, for it isn't my job to judge. The very question that baffles me, though, is this: how can someone who is willing to fight so passionately for the rights of a fertilized ovum be coldly indifferent to the wellbeing of, say, an eight-year-old refugee fleeing for his or her life? To me it makes no sense, and I'm seeing this contradiction in many people who claim to be staunchly pro-life. Today, I understand that Vice President Pence made the comment at the March for Life that, in our country, "Life is winning." I had to ask myself how he could not hear the irony of his own words. How could one say that "Life is winning" while knowing full well that refusing so many refugees, many of which are children, entrance into this country will destroy countless lives that are already in progress?
For some reason, this all reminds me of a small incident that occurred when I was a child. In primary school, we would have show-and-tell, when we would bring in our treasured possessions and explain them to the class. One little boy who loved to collect action hero memorabilia would always bring in items that were still neatly encased in their packaging. On one particular day, when he was proudly passing around his treasured toy, which was still ensconced in a pristine case, I asked him if I could take it out of the box in order to see it better. I'll never forget how he responded. "No!" he snapped. "What's the matter with you?! As soon as you take it out of the box, it loses all value!"
All too often, I feel as though the attitude that many people in our society have towards life is not unlike this little boy's. In my life, I've come upon many individuals who are so fiercely protective of life when it is in-utero, but as soon as that life is born, all of that concern and goodwill seems to dissipate, proving to have only had a nine-month shelf-life. Growing up Catholic, I've come to associate the term "pro-life" with being vehemently against abortion and euthanasia. However, I believe that we are in need of a wider view of what it means to be pro-life if we are only concerned about that life just when the heart starts beating or right before it is about to stop.
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