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First Ugliness, Then
Beauty Part Two of Three By Dave Andrusko
I did not see the program, only read about what the [British] Daily Mail bizarrely headlined, "Outrage as agony aunt tells TV audience 'I would suffocate a child to end its suffering.'" But I did see photos online. One is of the terminally smug "television pundit" Virginia Ironside, the other is of the visibly shocked "Sunday Morning Live" program host Susanna Reid. Over at "National Right to Life News Today," we've reprinted a fine column written by Wesley Smith that discusses Ironside's malevolent comments. Wesley includes an extended quote from the Daily Mail story and another one of those "get-over-it" comments from someone who agrees that it's important to say what Ironside offered publicly. Take a moment to read them, if you would. Ironside actually offered two reprehensible comments. She first said, "Abortion can often be seen as something wicked and irresponsible, but in fact it can be a moral and unselfish act," adding, "Sometimes the decision of a good mother is not to have the child." And then, as if goading herself on, she chimed in, "If I were the mother of a suffering child - I mean a deeply suffering child - I would be the first to want to put a pillow over its face... If it was a child I really loved, who was in agony, I think any good mother would." Neither comes as a surprise coming from someone the Daily Mail says "has previously argued that doctors should not fight to save very premature babies." And, is it an accident that "Her latest comments were made as doctors prepared to lobby for a change in the law to allow people to help the terminally ill to die"? Also over at "National Right to Life News Today," you'll find a wonderful column by Eileen Haupt, reminding us that October is "Down Syndrome Awareness Month." My guess is that Ironside would consider a child with intellectually disabilities a "deeply suffering child," and certainly a candidate for abortion if her condition was diagnosed prenatally. Compare and contrast the chilling comments of Ironside with the life-affirming message of Msgr. Charles Pope. I would encourage you in the strongest possible terms to read ,"A Life Like Yours" On The Dignity of the Disabled and the Call to Save Them From Abortion (http://blog.adw.org/2010/10/a-life-like-yours-on-the-dignity-of-the-disabled-and-the-call-to-save-them-from-abortion) I will be talking about Msgr. Pope's stirring message tomorrow, but I hope you'll take the time to read it today. All this comes, as it happens, the day after I watched the highly successful television show "Glee" for the first time this season. At many levels, the program about adolescents is adolescent, but Tuesday's night episode was about faith in the face of life's many harsh challenges, including disability. Sue Sylvester, one of the program's principal characters, is bitterly anti-religious for reasons that are not immediately apparent. Subsequently we discover that when Sue was young, she prayed that Jean, her older sister, would get "better." She hadn't. Jean had/has Down syndrome. God had "failed," but "failed" who? Sue, who is both hilariously funny and mean beyond words, is as tender and loving with Jean as she is harsh and cruel with everyone else. When she later meets with Jean, as she does faithfully, Sue asks her if Jean believes in God. There is a brief and very telling exchange, after which Jean reminds Sue that God doesn't make mistakes. Left unsaid, but clear, is that Jean's life isn't a "mistake," and that to blame God for not making Jean "better" is to dismiss her worth as surely as did the people whom Sue hates for making fun of her sister when Jean was a child. Wow! Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |
