By Dave Andrusko

Virtually anyone who has read National Right to Life News over the last several years is familiar with the name Joleigh Little. Joleigh directs Wisconsin Teens for Life and is a regional coordinator for Wisconsin RTL. She has contributed an article to virtually every issue of NRL News since 2006.

I mention Joleigh not merely to remind our readers how fortunate we all are to have her contribute to the "pro-life newspaper of record," but also because she made me aware of a very pro-life song written by country western artist Collin Raye. The title of the song is "She's with Me."

"She's with Me" is the final song in Collin Raye's album "Never Going Back."

Raye dedicated the song to his little granddaughter who is "very, very special" but is also very ill with a neurological condition no one has been able to diagnose. He tells us (at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc5RDJnF2vI) that her symptoms first appeared when she was two, and that her condition is regressing.

As anyone who knows me will attest, I'm a softy, so it's not surprising that I start misting up before the song even gets in gear. The lyrics are beautiful, tender, and sweet.

What suffuses every syllable is an abiding sense of privilege. He sings of being chosen-- weak, weary, and  imperfect man that he is – to "care for our girl" even though he'd "never done a single deed to earn the right to share her light."

Where did the title come from?  Raye talks about how in this life his granddaughter can't do anything on her own and "she comes and goes because she's with me."

He then relates this to the after-life. The final stanza goes like this: