By Scott Tibbs, August 22, 2013
And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. -- Jeremiah 32:35
When the utterly disgusting scan of a letter anonymously delivered to the mother of an autistic child went viral, people were shocked at the inhumanity of the woman who would write such terrible things about a child. Unfortunately, none of us were able to see our own shame in the words of the letter and how it reflects on us.
It should be no surprise that the cowardly "mother" refused to sign her letter. When something is done anonymously, it is almost always done to hide shameful and despicable behavior. This is why discourse on the Internet is often so filled with hatred and venom, because people writing those things do not have to attach their names and reputations to what they are saying.
But we should not be surprised or shocked by the inhumanity of the letter, even by the suggestion that the child be murdered so that his organs can be harvested for others in need. As ghoulish as that suggestion is, the author is simply following along with the culture of death created by an unlimited "right" to abortion. After all, 90% of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted.
What this woman wrote is evil, yes, but she is only repeating what our culture tells us every day. Down Syndrome babies, autistic babies or babies with other defects should be aborted because they will not have a good "quality of life" - when the real reason is that the parents do not want to deal with the challenges of caring for a special needs child. We hear that the elderly or the terminally ill have the right to "die with dignity" when the real reasoning is that they have a "duty" to die so they are not a "burden" to their families or to society .
Right here in Bloomington, a newborn baby was murdered 30 years ago. Baby Doe was born with a defect, where his esophagus did not connect to his stomach. He could have been saved with an operation but his parents refused because he had Down Syndrome. Offers to adopt the baby so he could live were rejected - the bloodlust had to be quenched. Baby Doe suffered horribly and died of starvation and dehydration.
It is easy for us to look down on the woman who wrote that terribly wicked letter and think she is a sub-human puddle of slime and filth. But what she is really doing is forcing each and every one of us to look in the mirror and we do not like what we see. Condemn her, yes - but we need to condemn ourselves too. We are all guilty. All of us. We all have blood on our hands.
