This week I’m changing things up a bit. I asked a guest writer, my college-age daughter Stephanie, to provide her unique perspective on any key policy issue that Kansas Family Voice of North Dakota fights for. Read on and enjoy.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
I have heard it said that humans tend to live as if the status quo will never change, and I must admit that I often function as if this is true in my own life as well. However, if one looks at history, things are always changing, sometimes in dramatic ways.
For example, take the Berlin Wall. Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of finality. The East and the West were deemed by most to be irreconcilable, and there stood a 12-foot wall complete with barbed wire, guard dogs, and constant surveillance to remind us of the divide.
My parents remember growing up with the wall as a fact of life. To them it seemed as if the wall would be there indefinitely. Yet, on November 9, 1989 the wall lost its power. One decision was made, one announcement to the citizens, and people swarmed over the wall to freedom and to loved ones that night. Berlin would no longer be cut in two by iron and cement.
The Berlin Wall went up before my parents were born, yet they lived to see it fall. My brother and I were born into a world made just a bit more free, because of the brave individuals who did not rest until the wall was broken down. Stories like this remind me very much of issues that we are currently dealing with in our country, especially the issue of abortion.
In 1973, Roe v. Wade changed our country – a decision made before I was born. Many of you may remember when this happened, and then watched as our culture began to change in response. Abortion facilities began appearing everywhere, and eventually abortion became accepted and even celebrated, as it sadly is today. Today there are thousands of abortion facilities, lobbyists, and lawyers across our nation whose presence reminds us daily that a line was drawn that day. That line may often seem permanent, not unlike that wall during the Cold War.
But let me encourage you: history is not simply a continuation of the status quo. Statistics show that the percentage of people in America who self-identify as pro-life has continued to grow since Roe v. Wade, especially in recent years. I was born into a world in which abortion is legal, but the tide of history is turning. I have hope that I will see the Roe v. Wade decision reversed in my lifetime. I have hope that my children won’t have to live in a world where babies are murdered before they ever breathe air. And I have faith that, if we persist, by God’s grace, someday justice will return to our nation on this issue.
One day, I believe history will rank abortion in the same category as slavery and genocide. And on that day, we must be able to say that we did not give up, but that we kept fighting until unborn children were finally safe once again.
So please, don’t give up hope and don’t passively wait to see how history will play out. One decision, one announcement, one action can change the pattern of the last four decades. In one moment, the tide of history can turn. Remember, no matter how high a wall is or how insurmountable a court decision may seem, nothing is impossible with God.
Kansas Family Voice of North Dakota will never give up fighting for the sanctity and preservation of life, from conception to natural death. Thank you for standing firm and taking action with us on abortion and many other issues that will shape our culture in North Dakota and the nation for decades to come.
Sincerely,
Mark Jorritsma
President and Executive Director