What ‘We’ll Finish What Hitler Started’ Looks Like

“We’ll finish what Hitler started” is one of many long and time honored refrains in the Arab world, taught to children in schools, printed and broadcast in state controlled media and often times preached from the pulpit.

This is what “We’ll finish what Hitler started” looks like.

Just in case you forgot.

The Arab world has done nothing to stop the butchery and slaughter by the Arab janjaweed in Darfur. Do you believe they’ll be more civilized if the opportunity to slaughter and butcher Jews comes up?

It’s A Tough Life

It’s a matter of time now. In a few weeks or a few months at most, the abortion debate will become a part of this election’s ‘hot button’ issues. It is with that in mind that we will republish three posts on the subject. What follows are portions of the second post, originally posted on February 20, 2007. See our first post, Ready, Aim And Fire On Abortion.

Shrinkwrapped has penned another absolute keeper on abortion.

In Abortion And Vicissitudes, Part II, (see part one here), Shrinkwrapped delicately defines what is all too often for may, an ethereal (and impersonal) concept- the beginning of life:

For a couple who desire a child, life begins before conception. A couple trying to become pregnant find that each month, if the woman has her menses, there is a small feeling of loss; the hoped for and already loved child has not appeared. When, finally, the woman determines she is pregnant, often responding to barely conscious and unconscious bodily signals that herald the changes taking place within, the child begins to take on a reality, a life of its own.

…Contrast this with an unwanted pregnancy. The language and the psychological processes couldn’t be more different. The future abortion is dehumanized from the start. It is a clump of cells or a fetus. It is the repository of all that is rejected and ambivalent in the parents…

SW’s post is an eye opener not so much for new ideas or thoughts, but rather for something far more important. Once and for all, we are offered a crisp and clear definitions, clarification and clear insight into the social, communal and personal impact of abortion.

Yesterday, I recounted my own personal (and unresolved) experience with abortion.

Personally, abortion makes me uncomfortable- actually, it makes me very uncomfortable and angry. I can’t debate the science of conception and I don’t have to. Ask any infertile couple trying to have a child and they will tell you a fetus is not ’tissue.’ That is enough for me.

By the same token, I do believe an individual has a right to choose what is right for them. It may not be what I agree with and I may find immoral, even. But until I’m in that person’s shoes, what right do I have to tell someone what is moral for them? Should not morality come from within and not be imposed? There are people out there that want to do just that- impose a set of values on us that we disagree with. That imposition of morality goes against everything we believe in.

That is not a baseless argument. There are people out there with terminal diseases or in dire need of organs. Despite the desperate situations and the pain and suffering some have to endure, we do not force anyone to donate their bone marrow or organs, even in the event of death (i.e., after death-SC&A). In not doing so, we condemn those people are ill, to death. These individuals are innocent and defenseless. We do not mandate that like it or not, everyone must donate what may be lifesaving to another. Is that moral? I don’t know.

Who gets to determine whose life is more or less important?

After my ex had the abortion, for a few years I would consciously drive by the ‘clinic’ on the anniversary of his death (the choice of words is deliberate- I cannot say ‘killing’), as if I were visiting the cemetery. I would drive around the block, over and over and have a conversation with my son. I would tell him how well things were going or how tough they were. I would tell him he was missed and thought of every day (In some small measure, I know exactly how Robert Avrech and his wife feel) and how really, I know he would not want me to feel the burden of pain every day, but I couldn’t forget, even for a day, no matter how hard I tried. I told him about the day his sister was born- and I told him how sorry I was that he never had a real birthday. I tell him I know he would have been a good brother and I tell him his sister would adore him.

I named my son David.

Shrinkwrapped wrote,

…the disavowed infant lives on in the unconscious. When explored, they often become aware of their repressed feelings of loss and sadness. There is often significant guilt involved in such choices…

Abortion doesn’t always liberate.

Read Shrinkwrapped’s post here.

Julie at Happy Catholic has posted on the subject. In Showing God’s Glory Through Life Itself, she reviews a book that addresses the issue of abortion head on.

I was knocked out by the section where an expectant mother, whose pregnancy is truly a miracle to begin with, must contend with the fact that testing has shown her baby will have a very serious birth defect that will ensure a difficult life and early death. Naturally enough she is tortured by this and even though she has always been against abortion she begins wondering if it wouldn’t be more humane than letting her innocent baby suffer.

Read her post here. Julie also links to some excellent books on the subjects of trial and tribulations and quality of life issues.

On a related note, see Julie’s Sex, Sex, Sex.

What I cannot help wondering is what growth, learning, and yes even possible joy they deprived themselves of because they pushed the cup of suffering away. This is what our society has brought us to in its false images of sparing any possible suffering to anyone.

One might read Julie’s posts and see only the reflection of her Catholic faith . That would be a shame because a lot of what she has to say is decidedly moral in nature and transcends purely religious expression. Seeking the elevated self is not only a religious endeavor, it is a uniquely human endeavor.

We noted that

Doubt is indeed a blessing, perhaps the greatest of God’s gifts to His Creation, because every time we overcome that doubt and behave in a way that honors God, we have chosen to honor both Him and us. Only those that have experienced darkness can experience and appreciate light and the ability to see both the beauty and the dangers of our surroundings. In fact, if we do not acknowledge that darkness even exists, we can never see and appreciate the light.

We are supposed to struggle with faith and even tire of the struggle. It is the burden of that struggle that makes us whole and makes us complete. When we experience the doubt, the pain, and the despair of our search for God and meaning, we are not in violation of spirituality- just the opposite, really. When we are dealing with our doubts and pains, we begin to approach the final spirituality of acceptance.

The acceptance of ourselves, our limitations and insights, often comes after great pain and weeping. In a way, that weeping is a kind of window into wisdom- we are able to see ourselves for who we are and where we belong. These are cathartic moments, rare in life.

We can choose to submit and refer to the pain and the struggle as an ‘affliction of love,’ and thus hide the true nature of the pain and doubt, or, we can accept the pain and doubt for what they really are- adversaries that we must struggle with and overcome. We are given an opportunity to conquer, every day.

Life can be tough- that is true enough.  It is just as true that a tough life can be immensely satisfying.