The Undiscovered Country

Stories difficult to write are ones that need to be written

The beauty of both science fiction and fantasy is writers can address societal ills and religion without being accused of preaching. The reader knows the world created is not real, and therefore can more easily accept challenges and ideas the writer presents. They can also easily draw parallels to their own life -- or not.

We live in a culture of death. Life is seen as cheap and dispensable from the beginning of life in the womb, to the end of life with the elderly. We abort pregnancies out of convenience, and we place the elderly in nursing homes sometimes (although not all) out of the same convenience.

Some in our government don't want to allow elderly people to get the care they need (such as a pacemaker for a 93-year-old), because the person will not live long enough to contribute enough to society to make the "investment" worthwhile. President Obama told a woman that she wasn't worth a pacemaker and at that age, she should simply take a pill to ease her passing. He also said once that abortion needed to stay legal so his own "daughters wouldn't have to be punished with a child."

I'm not here to pass judgement on a president, but to merely show how his words reflect society in general. He's not alone in thinking this way. I also fear this culture of death will get even worse with the ACA. The government now has the power to decide who's life is worth living. If a person fails to meet a certain criteria, all the government has to do is either deny that person care, or make sure that person doesn't get the care they need in time. You can call me paranoid, and I really hope I am, but I just don't see any other logical conclusion to what our government has been doing lately, both on the healthcare front and with regard to spying on the populous.

There's a story percolating in my mind over the last few years about a child who's born illegally because she has a genetic defect. The mother is told she had to terminate her pregnancy or risk her entire family in losing their home, jobs and education for their other children. In the end, it's this defective child that ends up preventing a war.

Because we so easily decide what a life is worth or not worth, we miss out on the wonder, joy and beauty of life. God told us to be fruitful and multiply, not be fruitful and multiply unless the child is handicapped or is an inconvenience on the mother. I often wonder what the "abomination that causes desolation" mentioned in the book of Daniel is. Since God is the creator of life, I suspect he would see any deliberate termination of life whether in the womb or out of advanced age as an abomination. Whether or not that's what God meant in that passage, I don't know, and will have to research it to find out more.

Anyway, that's the story I want to tell. That to protect and respect life is one of God's mandates -- especially for those who cannot protect themselves -- and to do anything less is evil in its purest form.

But it's hard, because I know what a sensitive issue it is for a lot of people, on both sides. Can I accomplish it without sounding preachy? With God's help, I think so. We'll see.