42 years of legalized murder.
Today marks the 42nd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. It is a ruling that allows abortion which is the killing of an unborn child. We’ve got laws that would sentence any person with murder charges the moment that baby is out of the womb. However, according to Roe vs. Wade a person isn’t a person until it can be held and touched.
The thing is though, for all the excuses over why it’s perfectly fine there is one thing that sticks out; Abortion is a self-interest issue. My rights trump a child’s because that child cannot be held or touched. He might have a heartbeat but he’s not a person yet if I can’t see him. No matter the situation when an abortion is chosen, it boils down to people only being interested in themselves. We are a sinful people and this is a sinful issue, lovers of self. It really doesn’t get much plainer than that. I will never understand why people think it’s alright, why there should be a choice. You’re killing a human because you’re selfish. There is no reasoning that can explain that away.
This is an issue that matters. Many people marched in Washington today to give voice to it. I hope my generation is the one to stand up and say that it’s wrong, that its continuation needs to be stopped. With the current lawmakers that is doubtful but there is a glimmer of hope in that plenty of young people realize the atrocity that is carried out daily. You can say plenty of things about Millennials but we are nothing if not passionate people who know that we have a voice and we seek to use them for the betterment of this country. We might be able to do only so much but what we can do we won’t back down from accomplishing.
As a male many people my opinion on this issue shouldn’t matter. After all it’s focused mostly on the women. They’d be wrong though. When I said that it’s an issue of self-interest I meant that for the boys who see this as the only way out as well. Notice I said boys not men because men take responsibility for their actions. They are just as much to blame as the ladies who decide this is the route to take. Maybe for a moment it solves your problem but that isn’t going to last. Murder tends to haunt people, no matter what your rationalization happens to be.
Male or female, the decision to have an abortion is the wrong one. You infringe upon the rights you cling to yourself. People cry for the right to choose, but you steal that right from the humans you kill during a procedure to make your life easier. Get help, it’s out there. Abortion isn’t the answer.
From the perspective of a man who will have to wait years to be a father not months there is nothing more selfish than taking such liberties with the blessings of a child than to kill it because it’s an inconvenience.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
The Good Lie
“Are you not entertained?”-Maximus
There are many movies you can watch and be entertained but The Good Lie is not one of them. It isn’t a film that you will see billed as the best drama or action film of the year. There is not a full all-star cast though there are familiar faces, Reese Witherspoon being the most notable. Such a film would likely fly under the radar for the most part because Witherspoon isn’t the star of the show and for plenty of people the lack of notable faces and star power would be a quick turn off. Those people are missing out. The Good Lie isn’t entertaining, but it is a must see. It’s heartbreaking, moving, and beautiful and it deserves attention for the subject matter.
The story centers on the Lost Boys of Sudan, children who were orphaned and sought refuge during the Sudanese Civil War that raged from 1987-2005, the film is based on a true story and the adult versions of the Lost Boys Jeremiah and Paul were actual Lost Boys who were part of the program to bring refugees here to America shown in the movie. Because I don’t want to ruin the movie or give anything away I won’t go into detail but it’s one you need to see.
From the first frame to the last I spent the entire 112 minutes blinking rapidly to keep tears at bay. A battle I ultimately lost at the end of the film. This isn’t a made up plot. It’s not just a sad movie. For more than 20,000 children this was a reality, it happened. During the 22 year war roughly 2.5 million people were killed and millions more were displaced from their homes. While the film is split between flashbacks of the boys in Sudan and them in America you get a strong feeling of what life was like struggling to survive on their way to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, balanced with learning to live in a completely different world here in America.
Every day we take things for granted. Abundant food, running water, family and friends and not worrying that soldiers are going to show up and kill us at any given moment. These are the type of things the boys had to adjust to when they got here. Sometimes in a tiny dose, others in large one’s you see examples of this. The first is watching Paul eat butter on the plane and then try and eat the plastic packaging to the discovery of the telephone, these moments that bring levity to a heavy movie but still hold meaning are in direct contrast to the lives we live.
Though it only happens a few times you can see the boys clinging to the familiar as they see cows on a farm. In a world of constant rushing, abundant things, and worrying about money the boys need something to ground them. Even in just brief moments time spent with some cattle is a great answer. That is what they know, and even we, who were born here and understand this world; cling to what is familiar, what makes us feel safe.
In effort to not ruin the movie I will only say that there is plenty of heartbreak. It isn’t just the life they lived but what they face when they get to America. Because at its heart you see boys who were happy to get to America but they have to leave family and friends behind to do it.
In the end this isn’t a blockbuster but it is a movie that will break your heart, open your eyes, and if you allow it, it will change you for the better.
There are many movies you can watch and be entertained but The Good Lie is not one of them. It isn’t a film that you will see billed as the best drama or action film of the year. There is not a full all-star cast though there are familiar faces, Reese Witherspoon being the most notable. Such a film would likely fly under the radar for the most part because Witherspoon isn’t the star of the show and for plenty of people the lack of notable faces and star power would be a quick turn off. Those people are missing out. The Good Lie isn’t entertaining, but it is a must see. It’s heartbreaking, moving, and beautiful and it deserves attention for the subject matter.
The story centers on the Lost Boys of Sudan, children who were orphaned and sought refuge during the Sudanese Civil War that raged from 1987-2005, the film is based on a true story and the adult versions of the Lost Boys Jeremiah and Paul were actual Lost Boys who were part of the program to bring refugees here to America shown in the movie. Because I don’t want to ruin the movie or give anything away I won’t go into detail but it’s one you need to see.
From the first frame to the last I spent the entire 112 minutes blinking rapidly to keep tears at bay. A battle I ultimately lost at the end of the film. This isn’t a made up plot. It’s not just a sad movie. For more than 20,000 children this was a reality, it happened. During the 22 year war roughly 2.5 million people were killed and millions more were displaced from their homes. While the film is split between flashbacks of the boys in Sudan and them in America you get a strong feeling of what life was like struggling to survive on their way to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, balanced with learning to live in a completely different world here in America.
Every day we take things for granted. Abundant food, running water, family and friends and not worrying that soldiers are going to show up and kill us at any given moment. These are the type of things the boys had to adjust to when they got here. Sometimes in a tiny dose, others in large one’s you see examples of this. The first is watching Paul eat butter on the plane and then try and eat the plastic packaging to the discovery of the telephone, these moments that bring levity to a heavy movie but still hold meaning are in direct contrast to the lives we live.
Though it only happens a few times you can see the boys clinging to the familiar as they see cows on a farm. In a world of constant rushing, abundant things, and worrying about money the boys need something to ground them. Even in just brief moments time spent with some cattle is a great answer. That is what they know, and even we, who were born here and understand this world; cling to what is familiar, what makes us feel safe.
In effort to not ruin the movie I will only say that there is plenty of heartbreak. It isn’t just the life they lived but what they face when they get to America. Because at its heart you see boys who were happy to get to America but they have to leave family and friends behind to do it.
In the end this isn’t a blockbuster but it is a movie that will break your heart, open your eyes, and if you allow it, it will change you for the better.
Monday, January 19, 2015
American Sniper
American Sniper.
Bradley Cooper gave in my opinion the performance of his career. It was a performance as close to honoring Chris Kyle as could be done.
If you’ve not seen American Sniper or for some unknown reason do not know the story of Chris Kyle it would be wise for you to stop reading.
All that said, what is to follow might not be coherent. I’m full of various emotions and those can do interesting things to my brain.
I read American Sniper about two years ago thanks to my brother Kyle. A first hand account of the events of the movie, you should read it. However, physically seeing what went on even as portrayals was something that having my imagination create as I was reading couldn’t compare with. Every shot, the noise, the action is an adrenaline rush from scene to scene. Still, it is not the kills made as much as the quiet moments that truly brings out the emotions in the movie. Moments that show Chris with Taya at home or with his children, the gut-wrenching moments after he shoots a child given a grenade to blow up a convoy or as he’s talking to a child who cannot hear him as the boy holds an RPG aimed at a humvee.
The struggle of a man who has seen many of his friends die and is like a fish out of water as he comes home after each tour is profound. This is truly where Cooper shines. You can see the emotion on his face as a sudden sound brings him back to the battlefield and know that he’s fighting inner demons. Beyond the death and the sacrifices made most telling of all is a scene between Chris and a doctor at a VA hospital. The Doctor asks him if he has regrets over the things he’s done and his response is “I’m fully prepared to answer for every shot I took. I regret the one’s I didn’t get to save.” He did what he had to do. What he struggled with was not being able to save his fellow Americans. I’ve read the book. I knew going into the film Chris Kyle’s view on what he did overseas in service to his country. But it was still hard to hear the words said. Everything he saw and did and it’s the shots he didn’t get to make that bothered him. That is what brotherhood looks like.
I held it together well throughout the movie. My chest got tight a few times as you see Taya on the phone with Chris during battle, pregnant with their first child knowing that so many men miss moments like that because they are serving. Him pounding his trident into the coffin of a fallen buddy was hard. But the worst moment of all is when the screen goes black; the words scrawl across the screen declaring his death and real footage of his funeral procession was shown as the credits rolled. At that moment the tears came. So many bystanders lined up on the roads and interstate overpasses to honor this man's life, it was both heartening and haunting at the same time.
Sacrifice. Soldiers embody it; Chris Kyle certainly did, from the moment he earned his trident to the day he was killed trying to help a man struggling with PTSD like he’d done so many others, helping himself in the process. Chris Kyle is a man that deserves to be honored as a hero, not forgotten. His legacy is not cemented because of his skills as a marksman but in his life of service on and off the battlefield.
For what it’s worth I’ve never been to a movie where not a word was uttered as people left until tonight. Except for the sound of footsteps and the physical bodies of others you’d have thought you were alone. American Sniper is a powerful movie. It’s a heavy movie that shouldn’t be seen as simply another war movie. It carries a weighty message.
I want to say thank you as inadequate as those words seem to the service men and women of this country. Your sacrifice won’t be forgotten.
Bradley Cooper gave in my opinion the performance of his career. It was a performance as close to honoring Chris Kyle as could be done.
If you’ve not seen American Sniper or for some unknown reason do not know the story of Chris Kyle it would be wise for you to stop reading.
All that said, what is to follow might not be coherent. I’m full of various emotions and those can do interesting things to my brain.
I read American Sniper about two years ago thanks to my brother Kyle. A first hand account of the events of the movie, you should read it. However, physically seeing what went on even as portrayals was something that having my imagination create as I was reading couldn’t compare with. Every shot, the noise, the action is an adrenaline rush from scene to scene. Still, it is not the kills made as much as the quiet moments that truly brings out the emotions in the movie. Moments that show Chris with Taya at home or with his children, the gut-wrenching moments after he shoots a child given a grenade to blow up a convoy or as he’s talking to a child who cannot hear him as the boy holds an RPG aimed at a humvee.
The struggle of a man who has seen many of his friends die and is like a fish out of water as he comes home after each tour is profound. This is truly where Cooper shines. You can see the emotion on his face as a sudden sound brings him back to the battlefield and know that he’s fighting inner demons. Beyond the death and the sacrifices made most telling of all is a scene between Chris and a doctor at a VA hospital. The Doctor asks him if he has regrets over the things he’s done and his response is “I’m fully prepared to answer for every shot I took. I regret the one’s I didn’t get to save.” He did what he had to do. What he struggled with was not being able to save his fellow Americans. I’ve read the book. I knew going into the film Chris Kyle’s view on what he did overseas in service to his country. But it was still hard to hear the words said. Everything he saw and did and it’s the shots he didn’t get to make that bothered him. That is what brotherhood looks like.
I held it together well throughout the movie. My chest got tight a few times as you see Taya on the phone with Chris during battle, pregnant with their first child knowing that so many men miss moments like that because they are serving. Him pounding his trident into the coffin of a fallen buddy was hard. But the worst moment of all is when the screen goes black; the words scrawl across the screen declaring his death and real footage of his funeral procession was shown as the credits rolled. At that moment the tears came. So many bystanders lined up on the roads and interstate overpasses to honor this man's life, it was both heartening and haunting at the same time.
Sacrifice. Soldiers embody it; Chris Kyle certainly did, from the moment he earned his trident to the day he was killed trying to help a man struggling with PTSD like he’d done so many others, helping himself in the process. Chris Kyle is a man that deserves to be honored as a hero, not forgotten. His legacy is not cemented because of his skills as a marksman but in his life of service on and off the battlefield.
For what it’s worth I’ve never been to a movie where not a word was uttered as people left until tonight. Except for the sound of footsteps and the physical bodies of others you’d have thought you were alone. American Sniper is a powerful movie. It’s a heavy movie that shouldn’t be seen as simply another war movie. It carries a weighty message.
I want to say thank you as inadequate as those words seem to the service men and women of this country. Your sacrifice won’t be forgotten.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)