I am pro life. Whether on the battlefield, in the nursing home, at the end of a feeding tube, on death row, or in a mother’s womb, I will always vote for life. This doesn’t affiliate me along party lines, for both sides hold their merit in various ways. It does, however, make me ever conscious and deliberate about the decisions I make when elections roll around. That being said, there is a story I want to write.
Not because you haven’t heard it before, but rather because by not doing so, I would be denying the stirring that’s been haunting my thoughts for nearly a week now. It’s a story that’s been writing me for the past five days. A story that doesn’t belong to me alone, but one that belongs to the million plus voices who, this year alone, will never be given …
room to breathe.
We all know the outcome of the presidential election on November 4, 2008. But there is a lesser known outcome from that day that probably didn’t make the “cut” for post election discussions around your tables and in the work place.
California’s Proposition Two. Jim Downing, writer for “The Sacramento Bee,” reports the following:
“To a huge majority of California voters, it seems, the chicken does come before the egg. The measure makes California the first state to require that its chickens be freed from their cages and allowed to stretch their wings.…
And what does getting out of a cage mean for a chicken? Three main things: a nest, a perch and a place to take a dust bath. Without these basics, hens act stressed. Caged systems don’t offer them, while modern cage-free setups generally do.”[i]
Apparently, the hens are living in less than desirable conditions, and while their “output” remains strong, their surroundings for doing so was deemed worthy of an upgrade. The National Humane Society contributed over eight million dollars toward the upgrade, while opponents donated over seven million dollars toward its defeat.
Fifteen million dollars expended on behalf of the chickens. A costly proposition in my opinion, and one that paid off…at least for the hens. By the year 2015, hens across California will be stretching their legs, making their nests, and enjoying the romp of a dust bath at whim and will. Thanks to the voters, California hens will have a little more room to walk their two year life expectancy without any…
*bars to cage their steps.
*inconveniences to cramp their living.
*restraints to hinder their production.
Room to breathe, friends. I can almost hear their thankful clucking from where I sit tonight on the opposite coast. And lest you think, I’m ungrateful, I’m not. I am for the humane treatment of all of God’s creatures, but as it pertains to a chicken’s “rights” and California’s Proposition Two, my heart and soul shudder at the hypocrisy lived out with such a mandate.
Many well-intentioned people expend their pocketbooks, voice their objections, and vote their conscience along such lines. They man their vigorous campaigns with bold initiatives and principled views, all in the name of the humane treatment of animals.
But when it comes to the one and half million unborn babies who will know an early death this year because of abortion, pocketbooks often remain closed. Voices remain silent, and the human conscience is swallowed up by a vigorous “lesser” that offers no room for innocence to breathe her first breath, much less make a nest, find a perch, and stretch her wings toward hopeful flight.
Many will argue that the issues are different. That the variables are extreme and cannot be considered as equal.
I would agree. Hens and human life are different. They are not equal and, in terms of intrinsic worth and eternal value, should not be considered in the same breath. But when the hypocrisy is so blatant, so obvious and so egregious, I cannot help but speak of them in the same sentence. When the rights of a hen get more press than the rights of the unborn child, my heart cries in disbelief and in grief for the moral disparity that is blanketing our country.
Abortion was not the only issue in this year’s election. I understand. There were and still are many valid concerns that weigh heavy upon our hearts. America is the sum total of these concerns. But I’ll be honest. I didn’t walk to the voting booth with many of them in mind. Instead, I walked with a “one issue” focus that took hens and the like off the table and put the sanctity of life at the helm.
I cast my ballot accordingly; not because of any particular fondness for either candidate, but simply because I want the unborn children of 2009 to have the right to walk their life expectancy without any…
*bars to cage their steps.
*inconveniences to cramp their living.
*restraints to hinder their production.
I want them to live. To spread their wings and to have room to fully breathe their rights as God-created, human beings. Some will. Sadly, statistics show that over a million won’t. And tonight all I can muster is a few painfully pondered questions.
Who can fathom the consequential depths of such poor decisions? Why would anyone want to? Who could argue the death of a child as a best laid plan…ever? Who could appreciate such statistics and reason them appropriate? Who could voice abortion’s worth accordingly?
I cannot, nor would I ever endeavor to try. My holy fear of a Holy God won’t allow me to voice such an offense in his presence. God is not impressed with our excuses, with our many words and with our defense of such poorly reasoned sin. Nothing we could argue would warrant his condoning of abortion. He is the Author of human life, and he values it accordingly. The fact that you are reading this now is witness enough to the beauty of such a sacred truth.
Your mother was willing to give you room to breath. To let your life matter. To let you grow and to let you become a person of kingdom influence upon our King’s soil. There was never a moment when you didn’t count, when you didn’t matter and when your Father looked away. You have always been his priority. Not chickens. Not ever.
As I approach a new year with a new Washington, I will be watching to see if our new President will uphold the strides that have been made in the past eight years toward reducing abortion and toward promoting the rights of the unborn child. I will remember California’s chickens, and I will expect higher preference to be afforded the children growing in the womb. I will settle for nothing less, at least as far as my voice is concerned. I may be forced to live with the choices of unreasonable politicians, but for as long as I have breath, I will voice it…
For life. For freedom. For wings to stretch. For nests to call home. For perches from which to launch, and for wide, open spaces that afford me a gracious cleansing and room enough …
to generously and thankfully, breathe it all in.
the fruit of my thankful womb!
As always,
Copyright © November 2008 – Elaine Olsen. All rights reserved
[i] Jim Downing, “What California Voters Hatched with Chicken-Cage Ban is Unclear,” The Sacramento Bee (November 10, 2008), http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1380971.html.
PS: Congrats to Pamela for winning the $20 gift certificate toward a necklace. Pam, please e-mail when you are ready to purchase, and I will have a code for you to deduct the $ from the total purchase. If you know you won’t use it, please let me know so my daughter can draw another name! Congrats, friend.
Well said! I cannot fathom how a chicken warrants more thought than a baby. In a conversation with a dear friend, I was baffled by her disregard for this issue in the election. Her comment to me was “we have to change hearts not legislate them” as she cast her ballot for those who would allow a infant born alive in a “failed” abortion to die. I have thought long and hard about that comment and I am saddened. While it is true hearts must be changed,I don’t believe we give up our responsibility to choose life. Thank you for so eloquently sharing your thoughts!
Beautifully said, Elaine. God must be so saddened by the state of our hearts of stone in this nation. How I pray that He would chisel away the hardened exterior and give us a collective heart of flesh. My mind can’t comprehend how our allegiances could have become so wayward in this nation. We had it so good for so long, and now we’re feeling the consequences.
I’m with you, my eloquent friend; pro-life to a fault, but how is it that we can give more worth to chickens in cages than to babies in wombs?
It saddens me to think of how few see the magnitude of this truth. What we see as unfathomable, others disregard as nothing. In the hope of removing the results, of too often a sinful act, another sin is committed. The fact remains that the physical pain of this procedure, is nothing compared to the life-time of regret and loss that every minute consumes the thoughts of those who take this step.
Life is a gift, and only God should make the choice of when it begins and ends.
Thanks for giving us “room to breathe” here and express our concerns,
Joy
The numbers are staggering! In the U.S. alone 1.37 million abortions per year are performed, while globally the number rises to 42 million. Inconceivable! It is next-to-impossible for me to discuss this topic with anyone, especially those that condone the practice, without sputtering. Common sense tells me it’s a violent form of birth control. My knower tells me it’s a poke directly into God’s eye; the stuff of which became routine in all prior, once great civilations.
I just read this morning that the new administration will undoubtedly reverse the ban on human cloning. Hang on; it’s as slippery a slope (or, rather … a shear cliff) as is abortion, and bound to take us to places we don’t want to go.
Kathleen
Stats from:
http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html
Wonderfully written and shared and very moving. AMEN!! Your posts always move me but this one in particular did even more.
Elaine, this is so well said, my friend. I am going to send this post to my son; he will love it, because your words cross very similar paths to his.
Thank you for sharing this with us. It is a sad time in American history when chickens matter more than babies.
Have a lovely day, Elaine.
God Bless,
Amy:)
Okay, I’m standing up clapping wildly. Bravo. And my heart is madly applauding too. A song popped into my head the other day. It’s called “We Won’t Be Quiet.” We must not bow to the god of complacency, and we must not be quiet about how we feel about this issue. thank you, Elaine, for letting the overflow of your heart speak.
Wow. Thank you for sharing this. I’ll be passing in on, for sure.
Just wanted to shout AMEN!
Which isn’t like us uptight Methodists, is it?!!?
I recently attended a fund raiser for our local Pregnancy Resource Center. A beautiful woman told of her pregnancy 18 years ago… how she entered an abortion clinic and the nurse said,
“NO ONE HAS TO KNOW”…
it stunned her… and she ended up walking into one of our local PRCs.
Her “NO ONE HAS TO KNOW”
is now serving in Africa as a missionary.
In all honesty, I wonder about the people who say that they feel their mother had the right to abort them. What kind of value do they see in their lives?
And we cannot forget about the women… having had an abortion… sitting in the pews of our churches… thinking she is lesser child of God.
Forgive us, Father. Let us pray and have the Lord move us in compassion.
Thanks for letting me stretch my wings… and even more so…
Jesus pointed out the absurdity of it all in brilliant terms when he said, “straining out gnats and swallowing camels.” Our nation condemns those who supposedly preach hate (teaching God’s truth about right and wrong), responding violently to mere spoken words. And yet they turn around and kill, and call pro-lifers “extreme.”
This nation has swallowed so many camels that it’s nearly choking to death…
Amen, Elaine, amen. I am pro-life, too, and for the life of me cannot fathom the thinking of those who support abortion rights. Like you said, chickens or human life… it just doesn’t make sense… Thanks for speaking out.
SO well put, Elaine! This issue never ceases to amaze me–but to now see it pulling for the chickens is…our children are worth SO much more!
Very, very, very good post. You and I agree whole heartedly.
Asbury? Must be Church of God – Anderson?
Your words ring true!
A few weeks ago the Today Show featured a segment on aging. The doctor being interviewed stated that “aging starts at conception” I found that statment interesting… if aging starts at conception, why would someone question that life begins at conception.
I read once that’s it’s illegal to destroy the egg of a bald eagle as it’s an endangered species. I would have to say that our precious children are endangered as well.
Lord have mercy!
That should have read “feeding tube” not “feeding tomb”, although somehow tomb is eerily appropriate for the read!
Thanks, Judith. 2:30 am doesn’t always bode well for proofreading.
peace~elaine
Eloquent and moving…and true…I hope that you send this post straight to the new administration…this needs to be shared with a wider audience…
Love, Sita
Unbelievable. I just don’t know what to say, other than I completely agree, and you expressed it so eloquently. California (and our country in general) never ceases to amaze me. Thank you, Elaine.
Another awesome post! Thank you, my friend, for stating the truth in such a powerful way.
Elaine,
God is using your mightily!
Your mother was willing to give you room to breath. To let your life matter.
Your words, friend, caused me to reflect on a writing I did speaking this to the world, because I couldn’t speak it to my Mom. I would truly appreciate if you would read this. It means a ton to me! The day after I wrote this, my Granny went to be with Jesus. I had no idea she was ill….and so she never got to hear or read this either.
http://yolanda-highergrounds.blogspot.com/2008/05/mothers-day-2008.html
You are so right…the world is upside down.
Sheryl
Elaine,
Thank you for speaking out for the unborn! I saw a 3-D ultrasound of my unborn grandson last week and …WOW! It was grand!
I am fearful of what the future holds for the unborn babies of the years to come. Fearful that more than ever of them will never see the light of day or take their first breath.
Again….thanks for being a voice for them!
God bless you,
Marilyn….volunteer for Sav-A-Life Pregnancy Center
Amen! Keep using your voice. As long as we have life, we’ve got to use it to speak for those who don’t have a chance at having it.
Amen and Amen! I sadly say I have a friend who would not vote McCain/Palen cause of something press said she did to an animal, but would vote for Obama not even considering his side on abortion. I just cannot fathom that there are people out there that would even have to think of making that choice. PROLIFE! my friend! That is my stand as well. My God gives Life and he can take it away. And only HIM!
Amazingly, my pastor mentioned this very thing before the election. It’s sad, for sure.
Thankful I have room to breathe!
I will agree with you strongly that all of God’s creation should be taken care of….we are taking care of something that belongs to God.
I was disgusted(truly)the other day as I was watching a commercial that was created to bring a person to tears….for dogs in a pound.
And yet I know without a doubt that the person doing the commercial was for a woman’s right to choose. I wanted to scream.
I voted the way I voted because I want to stand on the same side of the line as God. Neither of candidate totally believed as I do….wish I had had the o.k from God not to put my name in for either one…but I voted because He asked me to.
So now I will pray….pray that we stand up for what we know to be true. And pray that the consequences we will have to pay for our nations turn from the truth we will be able to walk through honorably.
Amen…amen~
Yea!!! I am too excited about this necklace!! Thank you. When I receive what I order I will post it and God willing…maybe “pay it forward”.
Room to breath…I like chickens, raised them at one time but come on…they are not worth that much!! This country is so screwed up…pray! pray! pray! And then be BOLD!!
Thanks Elaine!
In His Graces~Pamela
I am soooo with you! It bothers me to no end that humane treatment of animals is deemed more important than humane treatment of humans.
I’ve been puzzling over this all week but from the opposite end of the lifespan. I found out recently that one family member is actually angry at me for playing a part in convincing my dad that he should go ask my uncle (his brother) what his own wishes were when he regained consciousness after 24 unresponsive hours. This relative of mine is upset that their “authority” was upstaged and that my uncle had the opportunity to communicate his own wishes to continue medical treatment after “The Decision” had been made to discontinue it.
I still can’t wrap my brain around how anyone can think it’s ok for them to decide to ‘pull the plug’ on someone who is awake and alert and communicative when it is expressly against their wishes. And I’m puzzled that the law would even allow such a thing.
It is a slippery slope. When we deny the voice of those who cannot yet speak, it is apparently one small step away from silencing the voice of those who cannot speak as loudly as they once did. Or maybe it’s just the tubes in their mouth that keep them from speaking.
Heaven help all of us who are not only not yet begun to live, but who are not yet done living if someone else has the opportunity to decide they’re done with us.
The brave new world can be a scary place if we continue to deny that “He has placed eternity in (our) hearts.”
Interestingly enough… the TV show Boston Legal did a good piece on abortion. Of course it had its normal off-color, politically incorrect story humor built in. But they did a really good job of offering up life and choice. I was impressed, it made me think. And made me thankful for breathing room.
Powerful post!!!!!!!!!! So thankful for room to breathe. Oh that God would give our nation’s leaders a heart for His children – born and unborn. Thanks for taking time to write this in the wee hours of the night!
Sweet blessings,
Renee
Thanks Elaine,
This was great. My heart is where yours is on this matter.
Please check out what my pastor recently wrote about the election.
(We have a large bi-racial church.)
I love the stand he has taken for LIFE and righteousness.
We need to pray!!
Blessings~
http://larrystockstill.com/
I printed this a day or two ago and just had the opportunity to read and digest.
You have eloquently and passionately captured this unfathomable irony. Like the bumper sticker I once saw…”Be a Hero, Save a Whale, Save a Baby, Go to Jail” my mind simply cannot wrap itself around the idea that intelligent adults (some of whom have experienced the miracle of life through their own children) are blind (or choose to ignore) the obvious truth. I can’t imagine how this must grieve our Lord.
Like you, this one issue was the determining factor as to who received my vote on election day.
I’m ashamed I haven’t been more vocal or done more to show the depth at which I value the sanctity of life.
Thank you for sharing this passionate cry of your heart.
Taking your challenge and standing boldly with you…
Tracy
Wow, Elaine, what a powerful post! I am woefully behind in my blog reading, and I’m so glad that I now have time to catch up.
How wonderfully, beautifully, and poignantly expressed. With all of the press on California’s Prop 8, I had not even heard of Prop 2. And, I so earnestly agree with you. I’m all for the protection and welfare of all of God’s creatures, but there is absolutely no justification for that–or any other–grossly unbalanced, unrighteous, and unjust expenditure of time, money, and resources.
Elaine,
Thank you for inviting me to read this. It is to say the least powerfully written from the heart, spoken with truth and in it’s proper purpose to be a voice for the voiceless unto the glory of the LORD!
I would ask your permission to link this article on my Speak on it with LisaS blog so that others could click on it and read. Please let me know if that would be alright. You also invited me to read another one so I’m headed there now.
God bless you and I am watching this new Presidential administration also and as I watch I am praying because I also know that our GOD in Heaven is watching even more closely!
Elaine –
Wonderful post. I agree wholeheartedly. So sad when America cares more for fowls than babies.
Looking forward to reading more.
Jan
The words that were laid on your heart touched mine.
I too go to the polls with only *one thing* in mind,are they for life.
God bless you,
Tammy
Well, somehow I missed this one! I was at Pat Layton’s blog, clicked on Lisa Shaw’s comment and found a link to this post on her blog! I’m so glad I did, as you know my heart on this matter.
How timely that I should find it in such a roundabout way on Sanctity of Life Sunday! I must say (with the use of a very bad pun) that it “ruffled my feathers” and spurs me on all the more for the cause of these sweet children. Living humans waiting for their chance at life.
Love you friend,
Melinda
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