Hope for the Helpless

In keeping with my pledge to dedicate some posts to more optimistic topics, it would seem appropriate to comment on the recent "miracle" in Turkey. This last Sunday, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake shattered Eastern Turkey, destroying a some 2,000 buildings and causing at least 534 people as of now. Yet amidst this terrible disaster comes a story of hope that perhaps rescue efforts are paying off and saving lives (from the Telegraph):

The family made international headlines as three generations - baby, mother and grandmother - were pulled from under the rubble of a collapsed apartment block in Ercis, 48 hours after the earthquake hit eastern Turkey.

The image of the new-born baby in the arms of a rescuer became beacon of hope for the thousands of families affected by the quake.

This relatively surprising development obviously should push the rescuers to renew their efforts and hopefully save more lives. Yet another less obvious premise underlies the story and the attention that has been given to this wonderful event: the fact that culture still values life. The fact that a new-born's survival can become a "beacon of hope for...thousands" clearly indicates that life, especially the life of the helpless, remains something that people, even those in dire need, cherish dearly.

So what can we take from this? First, the culture of death is NOT representative of the wishes of the world as a whole. Perhaps it dominates our media and the popular culture images we are bombarded with, but all it takes a bit of spotlight, a countering "image" to wake up the good that does exist within humanity. This stresses the importance of building positive media power that can successfully impact culture for Christ and render the value of life, especially unborn life, visible. There is a reason Planned Parenthood and their cohorts fear the ultrasound. They understand all too well the power of knowledge to awaken concern for life, and they will do everything they can to stop the spread of pro-life messages in the mainstream media. But the relentless advance of technology means all their efforts to deny this cause cannot hold back what remains embedded within each human heart.

We can and we will prevail, so long as every sidewalk before every abortion mill becomes an "occupation" of hope for those condemned within. So long as every action we take both among our friends and in front of the ballot box gives testimony to the fact that we have not lost sight of dignity of the human person. This, I am confident, is the future we are moving towards. It is only a matter of time, and may we pray this time is mercifully short. Human life is in the balance.

What We Should Learn from Israel's Courage

Today marked yet another example of Israel being the grown-up in Palestine, formally beginning the process of swapping some 1,027 Palestinian prisoners to reclaim captured Israeli Sergeant Gilad Shalit. Hamas of course began celebrating their "victory," having reclaimed not a few notorious murderers back into their ranks. Yet in the face of all of this, the Israeli people have stood their ground, indicating in polls that they value the life of a single soldier over the potential security they could have ensured with those terrorists locked up.

Now here are a people who don't need a U.N. mandate to do the right thing.

Back home in the greatest nation on the planet, we have been busy making a pathetic mockery of courage. I think I speak for many Americans when I say I am annoyed to no end by the incessant news of more and more foolish protestors lining up Wall Street (and elsewhere), believing that, in spite of all the chaos and calamity of their fractious movement, they somehow represent, the words of the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, "courage and strength." I think a brief perusal of any of the numerous videos live from the "occupied" locations should give those believing such statements pause.

"But that's just the corporate media feeding you selective lies!" cry the hurt protestors. Well, then, please expand my narrow view of the situation by providing media evidence to the contrary.

No, in countlessly-blessed America deserting one's work, clogging arteries of transportation for weeks on end, and perpetually babbling past one another about the various gripes you have with society...THAT my friends is courage. It's in times like these when it makes me have doubts about the point of prosperity (earned by the immeasurable efforts of those who came before us) if it breeds a culture which can so readily wish to throw it all away.

Listening to Michael Medved this afternoon further crystallized the sad state of the occupants' priorities. During a discussion with protestor Bill Buster, Medved repeatedly attempted, to no avail, to pry out some sort of legitimate policy plan or initiative the protestors would support. Instead, Mr. Buster repeatedly went out of his way to avoid the line of questioning, emphasizing the allegedly sorry state of free-speech as demonstrated by those "draconian" crack-downs and revocations of the protestors' permission to jam the functions of their respective localities.

So sad, then, is the disparity of attention given to Buster and his flock when compared with what I consider true icons of courage, especially in the arena of free-speech. Here we are in the middle of the 40 Days for Life campaign, in which thousands of (yes, I'll say it) brave and committed folks from all walks of life unite in front of their local abortion facility to demand an end to the greatest injustice of them all. This is the greatest manifestation of cold-blooded corporate exploitation: the abortion facility. But according to the mainstream media, that's just not relevant. The cries of those ignorant masses, after all, are a good deal louder than the silent scream of the unborn as they are hacked to pieces. And the show goes on.

So I salute those few courageous souls we can look to now. From daily persecution to the occasional rocket strike or car bomb, the Israeli people have seen it all, and I can never claim to fathom the great force of endurance they cling to. I just hope in some way, some how, we as a nation can better learn to understand and appreciate courage when we see it, even if the wars we wage at home aren't displayed on every TV screen or continually dominating the updates on Google News. There are too many lives depending on it.