A Generosity of Heart Versus the "Duty to Die"

By Dave Andrusko

It occurred to me this morning that I don't devote enough attention to the work of economist, author, and syndicated columnist Thomas Sowell. So when he writes on something directly on point for pro-lifers I try to be sure to give him a shout-out.

A fellow staffer, a member of our board, and half a dozen grassroots pro-lifers sent me a link to "A Duty to Die?" (http://article.nationalreview.com/433929/a-duty-to-die/thomas-sowell) Since there is so much today to read at National Right to Life News Today and Today's News and Views, I will take just a couple of minutes of your time.

Thomas Sowell

Sowell's principle point is that it seems as if you have to be overly-educated and more than economically comfortable to even think that "old people have 'a duty to die' rather than become a burden to others." He contrasts the inhumane idea of abandonment with his own experience growing up during the Depression in a family that always found room for an aunt who had no home of her own and would periodically come to "stay a while."

I won't spoil the story by going further, but it reminded me of a true story I did not learn about until after my own mother passed away. My mother and her ten sisters and one brother also grew up during the Depression. Unfortunately, like many families, there came a time when they were evicted from their home.

Literally on the streets with nothing except a lot of scared and desperately unhappy children, my mother's family was at the end of their rope. Then, out of the generosity of his heart, a peddler appeared who they did not know and who did not know them who gave them enough money to eat and to stay somewhere until they were able to find shelter.

I thought of this Good Samaritan when Sowell wrote about a woman who counseled Sowell against seeking custody of his son because the life of a single dad would "interfere" with his career. "The lady who gave me this advice had a degree from Harvard Law School," Sowell wrote." She had more years of education than my whole family had, back in the days of Aunt Nance Ann."

Luckily for my grandparents, aunts and uncles, the peddler had more of the Sowell family in his heart than the woman with the degree from Harvard Law School.

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