Mum and I went shopping in the morning, as we usually do on a Saturday. Mum takes her shopping trollley and I put all my things in there - saves on carrying heavy bags! Mum is nearly 85 but is still very active and has better social life than I do - she's always arranging outings for the ladies at church, rushing around doing her own things and doing shopping for people "because they're old you know!!!" She's just the bees knees and I love her to bits.
But yesterday I noticed a fraility that I hadn't seen before. She mentioned that her wrists and ankles hurt, that she feels as if she's slowing down and doesn't like it. The truth is, she is slowing down but what I noticed more was the way other people treat the elderly. We were shopping, mum was abit slow, people were very impatient, pushing past her as if she wasn't there, tutting when she happened to stop in the wrong place, trying to jump in front of her as she reached for her grocery. It was as if they would rather she wasn't there.
I was also listening to a debate about how to 'reduce the number of people with disabilities'
??????????
How on earth can we reduce people with disabilities?
Aparently we do this by not saving premature babies.
We used to run a bible group for people with various degrees of learning disabilities and never would I have thought that these people should not be on planet earth.
Apparently, if a baby is born at 23 weeks they will have disabilities, the severity of which will not be known until much later and this, of course, costs money.
My goodness me - is this what we have come to. Money over life. It was an interesting if not upsetting debate about whether or not we should be able to say who lives and who doesn't and I understand that there will be many different thoughts on this, even amongst Christians.
For me, God knows when a baby is to be born at 23 weeks and He has given the know-how and the technology to keep that baby alive. He knows the severity of disability the baby/child/adult will have.
And as God knows all these things plus others, He still chose to bring that baby into the world and give it life. I don't believe that we have the right to say that a child who will have disabilities does not have the right to life.
I do understand that it will be hard work for the family concerned as I have seen from experience the trials that families face, yet when speaking to parents about these trials and hardships not one of them ever said they would be without their baby/child/son or daughter.
After listening to other news programmes and debates and observing the amount of Botox injections and plastic surgery people continue to have in the hope of perfection, I am coming to see that society is becoming almost intolerant of something or someone that is not 'normal' or is not 'quick or sharpe enough'. What does this tell us about the human race?
As it says in the Bible (and this is from The Message Bible)
Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude,coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanders, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.
3 comments:
Carol, what a terrible thought that money is going to rule in that situation. The world is changing, and not for the better.
It's sad to see things going in this direction. I noticed it too, but never put together the increase in plastic surgery along with the decrease in tolerance of anything out of the realm of normal. I think you are right.
So true! Who are we to play God with lives? It is up to Him. Life is precious - unborn, born, elderly, etc. It hurts my heart, when I hear of how people don't think that it is.
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