Batter Up

My grandson’s first Tee-Ball game was today.  As an unashamedly biased fan, I thought he was the best player on the field.  Watching him play, I realized what a miracle he is.  A little over 4 years ago he did not exist in the physical realm. Today he’s fielding grounders and swinging for the fences.  I’m swinging for the fences too in my quest to end abortion. The children of the world deserve no less than the best effort all of us can put forth to insure that every one of them is allowed to exercise their God-given right to life.

The chances of either of my grandsons becoming professional baseball players are pretty remote.  The certainty that both of them will make universally unique impressions on the world is absolute.  That’s what the world loses every time another unborn child meets its fate at the hands of the abortion industry; a universally unique human being, lost forever.  If a child loses at baseball they get another chance.  If they lose their right to life, it’s all over.

Life in the womb is like being in the on deck circle, waiting for your turn to bat.  You’re in the game just waiting for your turn to play.  You’re just as much a player as anyone else on the field; just like an unborn child is a living human being, just like any other human being; waiting for its turn.  Every unborn child is already a winner.  They were picked by the Creator of the universe to receive the gift of life.  Being picked by the Creator of stars and galaxies to receive His gift makes every human being special.  Those of us who feel we should be able to decide which of His gifts to accept and which ones to reject are saying that we know better than Him.

When God calls batter up to a new life, His intention is for that new life to get into the game.  He wishes nothing but home runs for all of us, and I’m sure that He wants every human being to be a winner in the game of life.  I know that most of my days are already behind me, but I’m committed to ensuring that every new life has a clear path forward, from the moment of conception.  Life will give you everything you ask of it, as long as you are willing to do whatever it takes to get what you want.  I’m determined to help end the practice of abortion and I won’t stop until my heart does.

At this stage of my life I’m in the on deck circle for my journey into eternity.  When God calls batter up for my next adventure, I hope to be able to look back and see that I helped save some lives and change some others for the better.  Life, just like baseball, is all about doing the best you can, and leaving knowing that you left it all on the field.

 

Life and Consequences

Over the course of my lifetime I’ve fallen into a fitness routine that I rarely break.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are weight training, and Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday are cardio.  Since the birth of my 2 grandsons I’ve redoubled my efforts to stay fit.  My motives are simple.  I want to be around as long as possible for my children and grandsons.  I’m determined to not be the father and grandfather that everyone watches as I slowly decline from vital and energetic to withered and feeble.  Maybe my methods will work; maybe not.  That’s what life is all about.  You do the best you can and try to keep into perspective that each of our lifetimes are nothing more than brief flashes of light in our eternal existence.

Our brief lifetimes define our individual eternities.  Our actions and inaction not only affect our lives and our eternity, but those of countless others.  We make choices to allow millions of unborn children to be killed, just as their lives are beginning, and by doing so deny the world and every life in it the opportunity to experience the unique gifts every life can bring.  We allow our unborn children to be killed, and in the process, doom every worker in the industry that kills them to an eternity that none of us strive for.  They make the choice to do what they do for a living, but we create the circumstances for them to do it.

As much as most of us would like to deny any culpability in the elective killing of millions of unborn children  throughout the world, we all are responsible at some level.  I’m adamantly pro-life, but some of my tax dollars, albeit against my will, are funneled to Planned Parenthood every year.  I try to avoid patronizing businesses that contribute to Planned Parenthood, but I know some of the contributors slip through the cracks and get some of my money.  I advocate for the pro-life movement but I know I could do more if I dedicated all of my time to the cause.

Every unborn child deserves its individual chance to fully express the brief flash of light we call life.  The evil of abortion exists only because we allow it to do so.  Those of us who see evil and do nothing to stop it are offering our tacit endorsement of it.  Those of us who see evil and take action, but don’t do enough, need to do more.  We have a moral obligation to change the hearts and minds of those who support and promote abortion.  We are honor bound to protect every unborn child; to fight for the lives of those who have no voice.

As human beings we are all inextricably connected.  One action, good or bad, by one out of billions of human beings can affect us all.  Life is short but priceless.  How we spend the time we’ve been given will follow us forever.  The choices we make and the actions we take become part of our eternity and must be carefully weighed for the consequences they engender.

The End of Abortion

Like many Americans, I was disappointed this week when a handful of its Members temporarily delayed the House’s vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  The delay wasn’t based on principled objections to any of the bill’s provisions.  It was no more than a CYA political move by individuals more concerned with getting reelected than saving innocent children.  House leadership assures us that the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will be voted on and passed in very short order.  I’ll take them at their word, and trust but verify.

I’m convinced more every day that the end of abortion will not be brought about by legislation, but by a change in the hearts and minds of my fellow human beings.  As parents, grandparents, and mentors, we are on the front lines in the battle to end the elective killing of our unborn children.  It’s up to us to instill within all those in our sphere of influence the values that hold the right to life as the most priceless gift in the universe.  It’s our job to remind our fellow human beings that the same God that created the infinite universe, with countless stars, planets, and galaxies, still knows each of us by name and grants each of us the gift of life for a reason.  As I’ve written on previous occasions, I don’t claim to know His reasons for granting every life, but I accept on faith that every time He grants the gift of life He does so with the intent that it be held as equal in value to every other life He has ever created.

Science has irrefutably proven that life begins at conception, so arguing among ourselves as to when it should be legal to abort an unborn child is illogical.  Conferring legal status to the killing of another human being, whatever its stage of development, does nothing to void the moral obligation we all have to protect every human life.  Abortion giants like Planned Parenthood will cease to exist as soon as there is no longer a demand for their deadly services.  And the demand for abortion will exist no matter how many bills are passed, if we fail as a society to reaffirm the sanctity of every human life.  We will also set ourselves up for failure if we underestimate the money and influence wielded by the abortion industry.  They won’t give up the billions they make by killing our children without a fight.

Like a tourniquet temporarily staunches the flow of blood until a more permanent fix can be implemented, the repeal of Roe v Wade and the passing of bills placing restrictions on abortion will do much to stop the bleeding in the short term.  The only permanent solution will come from a reassessment of our core values, universal acceptance of every human being’s basic right to life, and the willingness of all of us to serve and protect our fellow man.

 

 

Ignorance

Ig-no-rance: the condition or quality of being ignorant; lack of knowledge.

Many of my fellow Americans and even my family members are ignorant of the facts surrounding abortion.  Many believe that an unborn child isn’t a living human being until it is born.  They think that if a baby has some sort of fetal abnormality or the prognosis of a short life if allowed to be born, it should be aborted.  I’ll say again, God doesn’t make mistakes when He grants an unborn child its animating spark of life.  I don’t have the answers.  I don’t know why a child conceived by rape or incest is granted life, but it is, and it’s our moral obligation to respect our Creator’s decision.  I don’t know why He grants a child destined to die before birth or shortly thereafter the gift of life, but I accept on faith that He had a reason, and accept my calling to protect all His creations.

In America we allow over 90% of Down Syndrome babies to be aborted.  These children are killed simply because they lack one chromosome.  They aren’t what society has deemed to be perfect, so they are expendable.  If we continue on this course, at what point do we decide if a child should live or die simply because of the the color of its hair or eyes, or whether its genetic markers indicate it won’t quite be tall enough to meet its parents expectations?   If we continue to kill our own, at what point do we become what our ignorance has driven us to try and avoid?

Most Americans are probably ignorant of the fact that ISIS is now considering impalement as its preferred method of executing its captives.  I won’t go into the details of this barbaric practice; the disturbing reality of it will be saturating social media soon enough.  One method of killing human beings that won’t be getting media coverage is dilation and evacuation.  This is the abortion industry’s method of choice for killing pain-capable unborn children.  The unborn child is ripped apart, limb by limb until it dies and becomes a bloody jigsaw puzzle of tiny body parts on a surgical tray.  Just because most of us are ignorant of the fact that this goes on every day in America, does nothing to lessen the agony these children endure to satisfy our society’s quest to avoid the consequences of our actions.

Ignorance is not an excuse for allowing innocent lives to be taken unchallenged.  Ignorance is not bliss.  Ignorance demands a price that we all must pay; a price that rises commensurate to the level of our ignorance.  Telling ourselves that ignoring evil will make it go away, does nothing to serve humanity.  Choosing ignorance over action, while hoping someone else will do what we lack the will or courage to do, is nothing less than an endorsement of evil.  We all begin our lives in ignorance.  If we choose to remain in a state of ignorance, we waste the gift of life we have been given and dishonor the One who granted us the gift.

Viable

Vi-a-ble: able to live; specifically, at that stage of development that will permit it to live outside of the uterus: said of a fetus or a prematurely born infant.

Many of those lacking the courage to oppose abortion at every stage of an unborn child’s development hang their hat on the issue of viability.  They try to justify the unjustifiable by taking the position that a child that hasn’t developed to the point that it can survive outside its mother’s body can be killed on demand.  They conveniently brush aside the fact that the unborn child, from the moment of conception, is a living human being.  Viability is an inexact determination and a fatally flawed premise on which to base the legal execution of an innocent child.

An unborn child, totally dependent on its mother for survival, is no less human and no less alive than the mother, and deserving of the same protections as the mother, whether it has developed to the point of viability or not.  A society that allows millions of human beings to be killed, and sanctions the killings based on the human beings’ stage of development, is traveling down a very slippery slope.  At what point do we decide that someone is too young or too old to exercise their Right to life?  At what point do we stretch the definition of viability to include children who were born years ago?

My 2 grandsons, aged 1 and 3, are viable by any standard.  They are happy, healthy children, but neither could survive a week without the love, care, and support of their family and others.  Does their stage of development make them candidates for post-birth abortion since they haven’t developed to the point that they can survive on their own?  At nearly 61 years old I’m in the best shape of my life, but I know the clock is ticking.  At what point will a society that allows Planned Parenthood and the like to kill human beings for money determine that I am no longer viable and unfit to express my Right to life?

The act of living is done so without regard for human judgments of viability or worthiness.  It is set into motion by a power beyond our comprehension and represents at once the most powerful yet fragile force in the Universe.  Life is its Creator’s manifest intention of His greatest gift.  Life is meant to flourish, not to be cut short on the whims of human discretion and political expediency.  Viability and worthiness are human concepts applied to Divine creations.  The gift of life is not granted by mistake.  Every new life is created on purpose for a purpose.

Every life counts and every life is equally as priceless as any other.  When we take it upon ourselves to determine who should live and who should die we become the judge, jury, and executioner of anyone we feel doesn’t deserve the same rights we enjoy.  When we cloth these judgments in words like viability and worthiness we do so at our own peril.

Letter to President Obama #79

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, D.C.  20500

Attn:    President Barack Obama

 May 18, 2014

Mr. President:

 Today ends another weekend where I’m reminded what is truly important in life.  The loving embrace of my grandchild and knowing that he knows he is safe when I’m with him means everything to me.  I’m really busy at work right now and needed to go to my office for half a day yesterday, but after spending the night with me Friday night, my grandson asked me to stay home and play; so I did.  Work will have to wait.

Mr. President, nothing is more important than our children and grandchildren.  They are our future and the world’s best hope of fixing the mess we have made of it.  At the very least, we owe it to them to allow them to be born.  All over America, unborn children are spending their last weekend alive, doomed to be killed in one of our country’s abortion mills on Monday.  They didn’t do anything wrong; we did.  We allowed it to become legal in the greatest country on earth to have your unborn child killed for a fee.

Mr. President, even though you are the most abortion-friendly President in history, you can help right this wrong.  40 Members of the U.S. Senate are currently fighting to bring the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act up for a vote.  Passing this bill and then overriding your promised veto would be a small, but important step, toward ending abortion in America.  Sir, no logical argument can be made for allowing babies who have developed to the point that they can feel the pain of being killed to be killed.  One small signal from you that you will sign this bill, if the Senate passes it, is all it will take to save thousands of children a year.  Sir, there is no downside to saving innocent children’s’ lives.

The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act will eventually become law, with or without your help.  What do you have to lose by allowing this bill to move forward?  You can’t run for reelection, you’ll make millions on the speaking circuit after you leave office, and your pro-abortion base is already going to drop you like a hot potato once you no longer can use the power of your Presidency to do their bidding.

Wind down your second term by actually doing something good for your fellow man.  End the charade of your side’s catch phrase of a ‘war on women’ by helping end the killing of over 600,000 baby girls in America every year.  To put it bluntly, grow a pair and step up for the lives of America’s unborn children.

I look forward to your usual non-response to my pleas for the lives of our unborn children.

As always, my letters to you are published on my pro-life blog at www.prolifepoppop.com.  Write back and I’ll publish it, unedited.

cc:  Planned Parenthood