March 26, 2014 (UnmaskingChoice.ca) – “Do these images have an impact on you at all?”
“No…”
“It doesn’t bother you at all that this happens every day?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Do you understand why we’re saying that abortion is genocide?”
“It isn’t really… They’re not alive yet.”
“What are they then?”
“I don’t know… They just can’t really think yet. How can they be humans?”
He had been staring ahead lifelessly, seemingly lost inside of his own head. When he answered my questions, his dark eyes would quickly flit towards me, before darting back to the piece of ground that seemed to captivate his attention. His quietness, the very air that surrounded him seemed to reflect that of a deflated balloon. He had arguments, but they were weak. His voice sounded tired, and the slouch of his back and bowing of his head told me that there was something other than scientific facts that was not permitting him from viewing pre-born babies as human beings. I needed to reach out and find out what was really bothering him, if not to convince him that killing babies is wrong, then to assure him that he belongs somewhere in this world.
I hesitated before launching into the thick of it: “Have you suffered an emotionally traumatizing experience?”
“Yes,” he admitted, and the sadness in his soul came to the surface, filling his eyes with tears.
“Do you think you have a right to life?” I asked quietly.
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He shook his head faintly and said, “No.”
I shook away the emotions that were building up inside of me before looking him directly in the eye and saying, “I think you deserve to live.”
“Thanks,” he replied flatly.
My hands were shaking. I needed to say more. Who was I, just a little girl who cried when her dog died, to tell him that he needs to value his life? When all I’ve known in my life is routine and order, growing up nestled in the safe haven of a family that loves me, was it even possible to empathize with someone whose pain overwhelms me?
I could think of nothing to say. I sat there for a while, asked him if he was receiving help for what he was dealing with, rambled on about how difficult it must be to value the lives of pre-born babies when you can’t even value yourself, and left. Not even five minutes after leaving, a thousand regrets flooded into my mind. Why hadn’t I ensured that he had someone to talk to? Why had I only given him my number and not asked for his? Should I maybe have asked if he wanted to talk about what he was suffering from? In the midst of my muddled thoughts, the most prevalent was this: why him and not me?
We are separated into two completely different worlds simply because of the situation we were born into, yet we were there together and the only thing I could do to bridge the endless gap between us was listen, understand, and communicate that even though we’re on opposite sides of the river, I care.
Because every human being, regardless of where they came from or how old they are, deserves not only the right to live, but the right to be loved and respected unconditionally.
Reprinted with permission from UnmaskingChoice.ca.