Eugenics, abortion, paying the bills and changing society

I found this article linked from Letters to Liam, a blog run by the dad of a Down's Syndrome child. Although it was published in the UK I feel it's pertinent to anyone watching our culture as it continues changing.

The first disturbing thing found in the article is the overall attitude of the author towards abortion. So far we don't see such blase acceptance of this here in the USA, unfortunately that will come in time. Things are going to get worse before they get better, the inertia towards completely unrestricted abortions is too great to stop quickly.

The second disturbing thing was the author's mention of the cost from having a DS child. Hey lady, here's a news bulletin; CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS EXPENSIVE!!! Just making the decision to have a single child involves acknowledging some future belt tightening, anyone not aware of that makes the case for competency testing of prospective parents.

Unspoken but easily discerned is the objection of special needs children draining off government funds. This is where we should all take notice on this side of the pond. We're rapidly moving towards full government funded health care, once that happens it's a cinch Uncle Sugar will start intefering with a lot of personal choices we now make. That will include the testing for Down's Syndrome and other birth defects prior to the delivery of a child. The way our culture is presently heading, mandatory abortion of all the "unfit" isn't impossible.

For this reason looking for ANY government assistance in the care of a family member is a really bad idea. The Golden Rule of, "He who has the gold, makes the rules." will come into play. And if you think ANY government beauracracy can operate with the best interests of John & Joan Q. Public in mind you're high on something. Instead of looking for government assistance for anything we should become a nation where life is so valued nobody needs to ask the government for anything, it's provided via our families, churches and neighbors.

Following up on the topic of caring for those born with birth defects, the bigger one of how to promote a culture centered on life comes to mind.

Those of us in the Catholic Church and prolife community need to completely divorce ourselves from the idea of a goverment funded endorsement of our beliefs. It ain't happening and, in all honesty, it shouldn't. That includes the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Even if we won that battle we would have to be prepped for a future one as the proaborts gear up their legal machine.

Fighting in the courts won't do it. We have to start loudly asserting our beliefs and pushing the proof of them into the public eye. We have to truly live our ideals and let everyone know we're doing it. Once the general public shares our values we'll have a culture of life. Again I'll say, placing our main focus on court battles is a waste of time. This is NOT to say fighting on the legal front should be abandoned, but we definetly place too much emphasis on it. It's as if we believe once a court case or two is decided in our favor all the hard work shall have been accomplished. That is pure bullshit. We have to take the battle to our everyday lives, become truly counter cultural in the eyes of everyone who deals with us.

Look at what we've gotten recently after decades of being nice and nonconfrontationald, letting all the work be done in venues easily compartmentalized from the rest of our daily lives. A President was elected who openly admitted wanting the option of aborting his own grandchildren just so his daughters wouldn't be "punished with a baby". This man in himself isn't cause for concern, the fact that over half the American public thought so little of that statement or outright approved of it IS A CAUSE FOR CONCERN.

While too much time has been spent trying to further our aims through the courts not enough has been spent routinely engaging the man on the street in any debate. The fault for that lies with every one of us who has stayed mum when the topics of abortion, euthanasia, cloning, etc. have come up during the course of a regular workday. No, I know they're not the standard topics around the water cooler. But they DO arise.

An example from my own life occured some years ago as some coworkers, myself and our new supervisor sat down for a meal at a local restaurant. One of the coworkers mentioned the (at the time) ongoing story of Terri Shiavo and how she'd recently died. Our new supervisor immediately piped up, "It's about time too!" Rather than pick up that ball and run with it, airing my own prolife views, I chose to ask for the bread to be passed. Opportunity missed, hell it was an opportunity ignored! God forgive me for that one.

If we want to REALLY make an honest effort we have to not only jump on those opportunities, we have to try pushing for them to happen.

When I went to a prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic some months ago it was the first time I got involved with the group from my current parish. The leader stressed how we weren't confrontational, we didn't carry very graphic signs showing the results of abortion we only prayed for those involved and tried engaging the women in conversation. Sounds nice, soft and not at all in anyone's face. It works to some degree too, there have been women who have turned around after telling the prolife group that their minds have been changed.

But was it as effective as it could have been if a few graphic signs were in evidence? I don't know.
I recently heard Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests For Life speak on the radio of how that group now has trucks with graphic pictures rolling through various cities, evidently theres always wording to the effect of asking the general public if they knew what was involved in abortion. Is this whats necessary? I don't know but it does signify an increase of "in your face" style tactics. Hopefully they won't backfire.

But to get back to my main point, our entire culture needs an overhaul. Starting from the top down by going through the courts & government is wrong. We need to start from the bottom up. Bring more of the unintentionally ignorant of the general public over to our side. Once thats done the menace of Roe v. Wade, FOCA, etc. goes away because they become irrelevant in a society that no longer desires abortion on demand.

To recap what I've been driving at, we need to take care of ourselves and our loved ones BY OURSELVES. In addition to that we need to push our beliefs and the reasons for them in an aggressive manner, not just on the organizational and political level. It should happen in the barber shops, the nail salons, the gym, near the office coffee pot, around the kitchen table of our nonbelieving extended families.

We're really NOT living our faith and beliefs unless we're a complete pain in the ass to a lot of people. Period.

In AA we're told to make a personal inventory at the end of the day, asking ourselves if we've been wrong in any dealings with our fellow man, admitting it and making amends quickly after that.

In a similar vein I think I'll start asking myself at the end of every day, "Have I been a big enough pain in everyone's ass? If not, why not?"

Who said following our Catholic beliefs can't be fun?