October 17, 2008
-
The Silent Headline
Imagine if you woke up one morning, threw on a bathrobe, poured a cup of coffee and walked outside to get the newspaper. You pet your enthusiastic dog, breathe in the fresh air, and appreciate the quiet of early morning. Rolling off the rubber band that keeps you from your dose of national news, shock stabs your eyes in black-and-white: APPROXIMATELY 3,700 DEAD, THOUSANDS MORE WOUNDED IN NATIONAL TRAGEDY
Numb shock spreads through your body like cold wildfire.
Oh my God, you think, that’s more people than died in the World Trade Center attacks… what has happened? How? Where? Did anyone that I know get hurt or killed?
Possibilities race through your head. Was it another attack like 9/11? Did a cruise ship sink? Did an entire football stadium, skyscraper, or hospital collapse? Was there a bad earthquake? Are we under attack? A meteor? What could kill and wound so many people?
You sit on the lawn, and you hear your neighbors all around you reacting to the same headline.
“Oh my God…”
“What….?”
“This can’t be happening…”
“Honey! Call Mom!”
“Turn on the TV… someone has to be reporting….”
A car zooms by, doing fifty in a twenty-five. You can feel the city waking up around you as if a fire alarm had suddenly gone off. Instead of the slow, easy dip into the work day, it is a mad dash to bring a shattered contentment together into some semblance of order.
You are an hour late for work.
And no one notices.
Everyone is watching the television.
The reporter wipes tears from his eyes and says, solemnly, “Ladies and gentlemen… I… I cannot believe I am about to say this… the estimated death toll of this catastrophic event is estimated at…
45,000,000… countless more wounded.“
A co-worker vomits in a trash can. Another drops their cellphone on the floor. Coffee spills. A woman sobs. Time stands still. Someone with a calculator hits some buttons and mutters, “…that’s almost a seventh of the country’s population…”
An epidemic? Bird flu? Ebola? A new form of AIDS?
You feel like you are in a science-fiction movie as you sit in your chair, shaking with barely-contained terror. You can’t hear anything except for the pounding of your heart, and the only thing you can see through your tear-filled eyes is the picture of your spouse and children.
Terrifying, isn’t it? I imagine most people are relieved that they can read this and think, “Phew! Luckily such a disaster couldn’t possibly happen, at least not in the same day!
True.
45,000,000 people could not be wiped out in one country in one day, unless a nuclear bomb hit every major city in the US, and then some extras to pick up the slack. To kill 45,000,000 people in such a way that most people would be clueless as to what was going on would take about thirty-five years.
But 3,700 dead in one day?! 9/11 only saw the deaths of almost 3,000, and everyone found out about it very quickly.
So sit back, relax, and don’t worry about it; you will never, ever see a headline or a situation like the one I just spun out above.
Because you will never pick up a newspaper in this country and see abortion on the front page.
More to come later.
Post a Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Comments (19)
I know this might seem kind of shocking after such an encouraging post last time. But several people, in addition to the people commenting for it, have asked me to post on abortion. Being that we recently had Students for Life Week here, as well as it being a major issue in the upcoming election, I decided that before I post on anything else, I should do this one. As to pornography: I thought about it and, after re-reading my post on women, I think I pretty much, “Said it without saying it.” God bless all of you.
I plan on doing an abortion post hopefully by Monday or Tuesday myself. I had a feeling this is what your story was leading up to. Well put, WHY is an unborn baby so unimportant to SO MANY people? I just don’t get it….only because of selfishness is all I can figure! Take care and I’ll be watching for your post. In Christ!
~Grampy~
This is a good way to put it in perspective, not just in numbers, but because it is death, not just arbitrary surgery.
Well done.
oh my gosh. thank you for writing this. it is amazing. sorry this is short but you’ve already read mine and I’m pretty much speechless right now. Thank you!
Wow, what a story! That really hit me hard! Wounds cut deep and I am sure hit close to home many.
My question was going to be, what are your thoughts on I-1000. I think I already know the answer!
Take care my friend and have a lovely weekend! Thank you for such an eye-opening post!
what can i say; amazing !!
I love the way you write, there is passion, truth, and character in your blog. Believing there will be more… I would love to subscribe!
Wow. You are a great writer. This story is so true. If only everyone could see that.
Zing. Way to put this current genocide into perspective.
Wow!! You should seriously think about writing a novel. I LOVE your writing style, and this post definitely packed a punch!
Wow this is beautiful.
I knew exactly where you were going with this story. Awesome. I think that this story really puts things into perspective for people.
Are you going to participate in the Day of Silent Solidarity this Tuesday?
@itsaverb - Maybe, if you tell me what it’s about! It sounds very intriguing!
http://www.silentday.org has all the info.
Basically, we pledge to give up our voices for the aborted children who will never have one. I participated last year and seeing other people jump in when they found out what I was doing was really awesome.
what I cannot grasp about this topic is: the moment of Death is defined by Science; why is the moment Life Begins a matter of religious belief??????? Why isn’t the moment Life Begins, ak. Conception, defined by Science???????? Roe vs. Wade could stand forever on the books (like the Dredd Scott decision still is) but would be pointless if the President of the United States issued an Executive Proclamation (like Lincoln did on slavery) that the law of the land is LIFE Begins AT CONCEPTION. then abortion would be automatically illegal. and the force of law could be used to STOP abortion, rather than protect, and promote, it.
But our so called Right To Life Presidents have not done so. Now they don’t have the legislature to approve it….now the Antichrist will be elected, and hell will appear on earth. And you will see way more than 45,000,000 killed – in a few minutes!
@itsaverb - I will definitely spend a day in quiet, and I will try making time to pray a rosary for life as well. Thank you for the heads up!
Excellent! I’m just glad to have passed on the word.
@UnworthyofHisgrace - no kidding.
Wow this is beautifully lame. Let’s take a step back and analyze. You not only force your idea that abortion is bad and blah blah bluster blah, but you try to guilt trip people into thinking how you think. It really only puts one thing in perspective, and that’s how low you will go. Props Arnold Friend. Maybe you should cry more about the horrors of gender selected abortion in India and China, if you really want to harp on unjustified murder that is. It’s a hot issue, look it up detective. Then maybe you can write something that’s impressive. till next time adversary.