You know, there are times when I simply have to shake my head at some of the sh*t goin’ down in the country today. This isn’t a rant, rather, it’s really a question of what we have become as a people and what we believe in our hearts and in our minds collectively. Quite different from what people we consider our “leaders” tell us they want us to believe in order to achieve political ends, but what each of us – you and me, be we liberal, conservative, black, white, football fans, baseball fans, cat lovers, dog lovers, classical music lovers, hip-hop and rap fans. You know, what each of us believes in our moral core, in our heart of hearts, in our souls.
Look, people can disagree on just about everything – big issues, little issues. (I know that because me and my good friend and frequent commenter Jana do!) We can disagree on what is better for us individually and as a people. We can disagree on whether someone is nothing more than a head spewing political talking points or whether they truly have the interests of us both collectively and individually as a means to a particular end that we may or may not agree with. And I’m OK with that, really I am. I have good friends that are considered liberals (though, fortunately not of the left-wing loon variety), and I have conservative friends and friends that are either in the middle or clueless as to where they stand on just about anything (and you know who you are!).
I know what you’re thinking: why does he carry on so? Because there are times when I’m personally offended when someone says something that is so beyond the pale of stupid so as to give the word ignorant a bad name. I suppose I should know better by now that whenever the President of the United States speaks, he’s capable of saying something beyond ignorant, but I guess I respect the office enough that I continually expect better and am constantly disappointed.
To my point: here is the statement released by the White House on Wednesday, the 41st anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision regarding abortion (my boldings):
Today, as we reflect on the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to the decision’s guiding principle: that every woman should be able to make her own choices about her body and her health. We reaffirm our steadfast commitment to protecting a woman’s access to safe, affordable health care and her constitutional right to privacy, including the right to reproductive freedom. And we resolve to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, and continue to build safe and healthy communities for all our children. Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.
Where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams. You got that? Everyone. Not some people. Everyone. A statement which I happen to wholeheartedly agree with. That’s why people from all over the world want to come here to begin with, BTW. America the place to plant their flag, to hang their shingle, to dream dreams, big and little, and maybe even achieve one or two. To make something better of their lives, for themselves and their children.
(Which is why, BTW, the whole immigration (legal and illegal) question is so complex. How do you offer a place where people can come and pursue their dreams while keeping out those who have no interest in bettering themselves and just sucking off the system or seeking to destroy it from within?)
But I digress.
It’s not just the last sentence, but the context of which it is made that offends not only my sensibilities and intelligence, but offends me as a fellow human being. It bothers me and offends me as a Christian because this statement is made by someone who is a husband and a father to two daughters; someone we’re constantly told is a God-fearing and religious man of the Christian faith. Think about his statement again.
And we resolve to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, and continue to build safe and healthy communities for all our children. Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.
Does the President really believe that when a woman is pregnant there isn’t an “everyone” involved at some point in time if the pregnancy is allowed to continue beyond a point in time people can agree to disagree on? Is the mother the only one whose dreams count? What about the dreams of future generations? The hope of our generation? Shouldn’t a fetus or baby to be born ought to at least be considered in the term “everyone” as someone having the same freedom to have a life, freedom, and opportunity to achieve their own dreams? I guess not, at least as far as the supposed leader of all the people is concerned?
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m pro-life but am not a zealot about it. I just think it’s totally ignorant and morally wrong to completely deny the reality of what a pregnancy is, as if there’s no other life involved besides the mother’s. A woman doesn’t become pregnant with a brick. Or a firehouse. Or a 5-iron. Or a sixteen-wheeler. Or an apple. Or an Eades Diet. A woman becomes pregnant with the potential of life. A life that, if left to be carried to some form of term, should have the same freedoms, opportunities, and dreams we are all entitled to as endowed by our Creator. Abortion terminates life. Abortion doesn’t happen in a vacuum – that’s not a rake or a banana being terminated – that much has to be admitted if we’re truly honest with ourselves as human beings who can clearly see the human anatomy, physiology and genetics at work. Human beings who, BTW, were allowed by our mothers and others through grace, accident, or determination to bring us to full term.
To ignore that fact, to say a woman’s right to choose to abort, terminate, end, kill – whatever term you want to use – a life or future life (again, whatever you want it), ensure’s “everyone’s freedom” is not only ignorant and one of the most inane, stupid, and senseless statements any human being, let alone the President of the United States, I’ve ever heard said, but, when you think about it, one of the most cold, heartless, and frightening things anyone of us can think or say.
If this statement is what President Barack Obama truly believes – and I earnestly pray this is nothing more than just awkward wording or petty political posturing and pandering – then he is beyond grace, and a man without any conscience or soul.
But what bothers me more is the absence of any kind of real universal outrage – no matter what the political persuasion – at such a cold, heartless, and morally bankrupt and reprehensible statement by our Head of State. That, I think, tells me a whole lot more about we as a people than it does about whomever responsible for crafting it and approving its release.
Hat tip: Andrew Johnson at National Review Online’s Corner blog
