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Posted on 02/19/2018 9:47:35 AM PST by Morgana
An adorable boy with Down syndrome was selected as this year’s Gerber baby. That’s great news. But remember, he’s not valuable because he’s cute!
Starting sometime in the 1920s, the Gerber Baby became a cultural icon of hand-drawn cuteness. In 2010, the baby-food company started an annual photo contest for real-life Gerber babies. One hundred and forty thousand families entered the contest this year, and the winner is one-year-old Lucas Warren. Once you see his adorable grin, you’ll know why.
In addition to being Gerber’s Spokesbaby—which of course isn’t strictly accurate since he can’t really speak yet—little Lucas enjoys another honor. He’s the first child with Down syndrome to be named the winner.
At first glance, as Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote at National Review Online, “the Gerber Spokesbaby slot …is an advertisement for baby food, (but) it can be so much more this year. Looking in the eyes of Lucas, we might see a better way to live.”
Amen, and good for Gerber! In most Western countries, including Iceland, France, and even the U.S., the vast majority of precious children with Down syndrome are targeted for extinction through selective abortion. Even more, this is considered a good thing by many in the press, and even more in the academy. Princeton bioethicist Peter Singer has infamously argued that parents be allowed to kill children with disabilities like Down syndrome even after they’re born.
Gerber’s choice sends a crucial message, that children with disabilities are just as valuable as any other child, and they often bring love into their homes, communities, and churches that’s second-to-none. So may Lucas be an ambassador, not just for Gerber, but for the joy that comes from welcoming all lives.
I’m more than happy to praise Gerber…but I don’t want to praise them for the wrong reason. Gerber did the right thing, but children with Down syndrome aren’t valuable because they’re cute or even because they often bring so much love and happiness to their families, although both of those things are true.
Lucas, like every human being, is valuable whether he’s cute or not; both when he brings happiness and when he doesn’t. His value is intrinsic, not a utilitarian calculation that weighs the costs with the benefits. Such a belief used to be commonplace in our culture.
Tragically, the cultural consensus is gone. Just ask Natalie Weaver, mother of 9-year-old Sophia. Sophia, because of a neurological disorder called Rett syndrome, has deformities in her face, hands, and feet. She has no motor control and cannot talk, and she lives with a colostomy bag and a feeding tube. Yet Natalie Weaver proudly calls her daughter strong and happy, despite the difficulties she lives with every single day.
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Many academics, media personalities, medical professionals, and internet trolls, however, think Sophia is worthy of death, not worth the money that’s needed to keep her alive. Some extremely cruel commenters on Twitter, for example, recently said that Sophia is proof of the need for abortion, even child murder. Weaver says, “I get people telling me to kill my child, to put her out of her misery.”
For many, many families, caring for special-needs children is extremely difficult—sleepless nights, exhausting days, endless physical and emotional challenges, and the loss of dreams for a “perfect home” or an “ideal family.”
Sophia has had 22 surgeries so far—think how tough that would be to watch your child endure that. And, of course, not every family—or mom—is as courageous, loving, or amazing as Natalie.
And it’s exactly here where God is calling His people to step in. We can champion the dignity of every life in both word and deed, the cute and not-so-cute, at both lovely and unlovely moments, as parents and sibling and families, and as church communities. We can support, pray, love, care, and otherwise live as if every life matters. Because, of course, it does.
Bingo!
Well done, Gerber!
And thanks for posting this, Morgana.
Sweet kid!
Congrats, Lucas! You’ve already made the world a better place.
Frankly when I see these about Downs children, I think about the Downs ADULTS whose parents still have to assist them like they were children. You see them in public places. I know it’s parental devotion, but to me it’s a lifelong sentence.
“You see them in public places. I know it’s parental devotion, but to me it’s a lifelong sentence.”
Not always.
I know a man with downs and the only way I know he has it because he told me. He shows no signs what so ever!
He’s married, with kids and would you believe he was in the Marines?
Oh he still has “issues” and sometimes needs help, a lot I wonder if was his being in the Marines, but he’s on his own.
Prepare to be blasted. When you see “these Downs children” see yourself. Their physical problems are none other than a reflection of our own souls. Your creator views all your righteousness as filthy rags and nothing you can do is good enough to be in His presence and die.
So, He became human to live the perfect life in service and love. He healed the deformed to show that our own inner deformities can be healed by Him (even if that will happen after our resurrection).
Whoever loves the vulnerable are like Him. Who are you like?
Served in the Marines, and with Downs?
Are you sure that he’s sure?
A lot of men would like people to think that they’ve been in the Marines, or The Seals. That has always been true.
Perhaps you should be thankful that YOUR parents did not consider that they were ‘punished with a baby’, when your mother got pregnant with you. Your comments suggest that a child with Down Syndrome would be such a ‘punishment’.
There is a young man with Down Syndrome in his 30s, who sings in my Church’s choir. He lives on his own and holds a job. Has he some problems? Sure. Who doesn’t? Is he a ‘lifelong sentence’ to his parents? No!
I don’t think Moonmad27 meant that comment as a put down just saying it’s a life long job, sometimes.
Moonmad27 is correct with some cases of downs. Know lots of them. One is a man with downs who is 50, his mom is in her 80’s. When she dies don’t know what will happen to him. He does great with her but who will care for him when she gone?
Feminazis hate that - they want the babies dead.
Feminists literally, homicidally, want to kill babies.
Way too many pro-lifers are way too soft on feminists.
I am saying you are wrong but I am having a hard time believing what you are saying. I do not think the Marines would take him in any capacity. Second, 99.9% of males with Down Syndrome are sterile.
He will likely go to a group home and adapt more easily than you think. It’s not like he will become homeless. He is probably more well adjusted than the people with mental illness who live on the streets.
My brother was starved of oxygen after his birth by a drunk doctor who did not aspirate (I hope that’s the right word) the mucus from his throat. He adapted to my mom’s death by mourning and I stepped in to give support. I will take care of him until he dies or I die. If I die first then he will most likely go to a home. I think he will do fine. It’s not a life sentence to care for someone with a disability. It’s difficult but there are a lot of pluses too.
Your ignorance is flabbergasting. Next time you see such a family engage them in conversation. They will be more than willing to talk with you. You will be stunned to learn the value of their child to their family and their lives. Yours in not the only life worth living, meager as that is.
A first cousin of mine, an RN, has a Downs daughter. These children used to have relatively short lifespans. However, this girl is nearing 50 and doing well, has a job at a Sheltered Workshop, and is loved by nearly everyone. Especially me.
Thanks To everyone for saying I’m ignorant and promising I’ll be blasted after my mildest comment — It’s my opinion and I have a right to it. I didn’t suggest that Downs sufferers should be aborted, but that it may be a lifetime burden which it clearly can be.
“I am saying you are wrong but I am having a hard time believing what you are saying. I do not think the Marines would take him in any capacity. Second, 99.9% of males with Down Syndrome are sterile. “
I say I’m right and you know why? Downs people don’t have have any fear. Put an assault rifle in this man’s hands and he can go in and take out Kandahar and there is no stopping him.
As for his DS symptoms? They are so mild it’s shocking! I looked at his head eyes, ears, made him show me his hands, it’s not there! Only way you know is do chromosome check.
My BFF who has a son with Downs had to come meet this dude and she was floored!
Would seem it’s some sort of rare case of Downs and only a few people in the world have it. About less than 10.
Don’t worry about it I know what you meant and I seen what you were talking about. I’ve been around a lot of downs people.
It’s sad because as the kid grows up the parents get old. When the parents die there is no one to care for them. We need to work for more group homes for downs people.
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