Thursday, September 4, 2014

More on Suffering and Disabillity

I just read your blog piece on the abortion documentary that aired recently on PBS (unfortunately I was unable to watch the show), and I was pleased that you wrote such an articulate and balanced assessment of Suffering is a Lie. For me, the most powerful sentence in your article was, "While the parents of these children honestly believe that they are preventing suffering in their children by killing their children, they cannot be sure that they are preventing suffering in their children. What they are preventing is suffering in themselves, and they know this, if only unconsciously." 

To be able to move beyond ourselves, beyond our certain emotional pain and think of the unborn child, this is an act of love. Several examples you go on to give of faithful parents who allowed their children to live, to then lovingly hold their child in their arms, for even just eighteen minutes, meant that the child got to feel the comfort of a hug, of human validation. In this we say, "Yes this child is whole and comes from God and is love."

Having taught children with severe disabilities in the public schools in Albuquerque and Vacaville, California for nineteen years (I am now retired), I can tell you that I saw thousands of examples of the love these children generated for the teachers, assistants, bus drivers and school staffs. When you work with people with disabilities you learn an awful lot about what love is, what life means, and God's genuine love for all of us. I personally owe these children, whom their parents allowed to live, a debt I can never repay. My life was fulfilled in serving the needs of children with disabilities.

God's rainbow of love is incredible!

In Christ's name I pray you continue to persevere and to let the Holy Spirit guide your literary hand.

Love, Gregory Goldstein

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