Saving Children
Charlotte Ostermann
Two more children have been murdered by their mother. Renee Aulton may
have her reasons, but reasonable people just can’t understand or accept this
tragedy easily. Is everyone shocked, or
are we becoming hardened and impervious to the horror of a mother killing her
own precious children? I pray that we,
the reasonable ones, don’t ever become so accustomed to this type of crime that
we take it in stride. The love of a
mother for her children is so utterly foundational to the strength of a family
and thus, to the strength of this country, that we must not turn crime-weary
and apathetic in the face of these murders.
What can we do? Are we helpless to help? Every single thing we do to affirm the innate
sanctity of human life is a support of the mother against her own selfishness,
temporary insanity, desperation, or hardness of heart. Every lifting-up of the value of a child, the
value of mothering that child, the value of persevering through hardship for a
child’s sake is a lifting-up of the heart of a mother toward the sacrificial
love she is capable of experiencing.
A society that can turn around the horrendous addiction to
cigarettes by making it socially preferable, even honorable, not to smoke, can
certainly have an impact on infanticide!
Let’s see the entertainment industry set up as role models women whose
love for their children helps them grow through adversity, whose belief in the
sacredness of life prevents them from killing a burdensome,
or frustrating child, and who benefit as human beings by holding to a higher
principle than short-term self-seeking.
The Bible tells older women to “teach the young women to …love
their children” (Titus 2:4), implying that love is an active choice, or skill
that can be learned and modeled. We have
an obligation to model a positive, loving, protective attitude toward children
in this society, and to caution attitude-shapers against any position that
would seem to mitigate the value of the life of a child.
Please stay sensitive and continue to be horrified whenever a
woman kills her child. Then do something
to honor human life, and protect the living children in our midst.