Thread by rhema.
Remember when we used to jump on our bikes with a sack lunch, take off on a summer morning and not come back until suppertime? And nobody worried. Mom said, "Be careful"; Dad was at work; siblings were otherwise occupied or along for the ride. What did we do all that time? Nothing special, which turned out to be very special.
When we speak of our childhood we don't mean babyhood or toddlerhood or the first day of school. We mean that burst of mobility after the training wheels came off the bike (or in my case, after my sister gave me a push to get me started but neglected to tell me how to stop). The speed! The rush of wind in your face! The thrill, the terror, and finally (after a few bad spills), the sense of control; of knowing just how tight you could take a corner and not crash. That's classic childhood, between the ages of, roughly, 7 and 13, that passes so quickly and lingers forever in perpetual summer. . .
Chabon makes an interesting comparison: "As the national feeling of guilt over the extermination of the Indians led to the creation of a kind of cult of the Indian, so our children have become cult objects to us, too precious to be risked." Children are not being "exterminated" except by abortion, but he shuffles the guilty feelings to other causes, even, ironically, overpopulation!
He may have touched the truth without realizing it. Once one accepts that a pre-born human has no inherent right to exist—that is, no rights an adult is bound to respect, that human is objectified. Rather than an independent person who must have freedom to grow and develop on individual terms, he becomes a project or an experience or a self-improvement program to be taken on when all conditions are right. One who will not grant the precariousness of life to an unexpected fetus may be less inclined to grant that precariousness to a 5-year-old on a tricycle. Someone who's so into control may find it hard to stop controlling.
Chabon tells of the thrill his own daughter experienced when learning to ride a bike, and the letdown when both realized there was no place he would let her go alone. "Even if I do send [her] out, will there be anyone to play with?"
There are a lot of reasons kids today don't come out to play. But we can't discount the fact that almost one-third of their peers are missing.
Thread by tcg and me.
In it’s announcement the committee also said "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future…. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." In its effusive praise of the President the committee continued with these words "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future… His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
This announcement comes just as the debate concerning the funding of abortion in the current versions of “Health Care Reform” in the United States has roused all of the defenders of the first Human Right,the foundational human right, the “mother” of all rights, the Right to Life, out of various degrees of lethargy. In fact, the opposition to this huge piece of legislation is finding its strongest resistance now coming from the U.S. Catholic Bishops. They have made it clear that they will vigorously oppose this legislation unless it unequivocally EXCLUDES the taking of the lives of innocent children in the womb, and rightly so. . .
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VATICAN CITY, October 9, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi has reacted to the Nobel Peace prize being awarded to President Barack Obama saying that the news "was greeted with appreciation at the Vatican in light of the president's demonstrated commitment to promoting peace on an international level and, in particular, in recently promoting nuclear disarmament."
Given President Obama's vigorous support for abortion, pro-life leaders reacted with shock and dismay to the reaction by the Vatican spokesman.
One pro-life leader, who wished to remain anonymous, told LifeSiteNews.com, "If Obama was good on international peace and nuclear disarmament but favored the killing of Jews, its not likely he would get either the Noble Peace Prize or be praised by the Vatican."
Human Life International President Fr. Tom Euteneuer reacted to Lombardi's statement saying, "I really don't know who Fr. Lombardi is speaking for. The pope is not mentioned and I am glad for that." Euteneuer who is currently at a conference in Germany added: "Fr. Lombardi must have forgotten that Pope John Paul II was not granted the Peace Prize in 24 years of peace-making around the world because the leftists on the Nobel Committee obviously don't give this Prize for actual results of peace."
American Life League President Judie Brown called Lombardi's statement "an insult to every practicing Catholic but at a more dramatic level a slap at Mother Teresa… who said 'the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion.'" Brown, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said that she was "outraged" by Lombardi's statement and called on Pope Benedict XVI "to deal with" Lombardi "once and for all". . .