When I see Trig, I see LIFE!
"Down Syndrome" should not be a death warrant!
90-94% of Down Syndrome diagnosed babies are currently aborted in our country. In England, the rate is 95%. Why do these mothers not want these children? What is the justification for taking a life just because it is not "perfect" enough?
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When I see Trig, I see CONVICTION.
As Sarah puts it, it is one thing to "talk the talk." With the news that their baby would be born with Down Syndrome, they were being asked to "walk the walk." Upon hearing his baby would be born with this condition, Todd Palin's immediate response was, "We shouldn't be asking, 'Why us?' We should be saying, 'Well, why not us?'" I also love this from Sarah: "When I learned that Trig would have special needs, honestly, I had to prepare my heart...I did a lot of praying for understanding, and strength, and to see purpose. And what's been confirmed in me is every child has something to contribute to the world, if we give them that chance. You know that there are the world's standards of perfection, and then there are God's, and these are the final measure. Every child is beautiful before God, and dear to Him for their own sake."
Thank you, Sarah, for standing up for your values.
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When I see Trig, I see COMPASSION.
Children with Down Syndrome are complete! They are just a little bit more than complete. A "normal" person has 23 pairs of chromosomes, totaling 46. Through an improper cell division very early in their life, a person with DS has cells which carry an extra 21st chromosome, giving them a total of 47. You've no doubt noticed that people with Down Syndrome have some distinctive physical features. That is because the genetic makeup of those particular features resides on the 21st chromosome, which has a little too much material attached to it. Unfortunately, that extra chromosome also causes a degree of mental retardation. That doesn't mean many of these children can't learn to read and do many other things. They're just driving a slower vehicle than the rest of us.
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When I see Trig, I see ACCEPTANCE.
I, too, have a child with special needs. When Down Syndrome came knocking at our front door, so to speak, wanting us to welcome it in to stay, I wasn't sure I had the courage to open that door. I knew our lives would never be the same again. I didn't want to face the stares and the whispers. I didn't know how to take care of a baby with special needs. Gradually, my heart changed from fear to acceptance. I learned to see and love my son for who he is. Somehow the stares and whispers don't matter anymore.
In Sarah, I see a beautiful acceptance of her son's disabilities. In a speech in Pennsylvania, she recently said, "As for our baby boy, Trig, for Todd and me he is only more precious because he is vulnerable. In some ways, I think we stand to learn more from him than he does from us. When we hold Trig and care for him, we don't feel scared anymore. We feel
blessed."
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When I see Trig, I see a little boy.
One of the things I wondered about most when my own son was born, was what he would be like. It didn't take us long to realize he is every bit a boy. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine, Cars, and baseball. He plays with trains and cars and knows how to run the DVD player. He wrestles with his big brothers and has water pistol fights with them. He's everyone's little brother, and they love him. Trig will bring the same life, love, and vitality to the Palin's home.
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When I see Trig, I see hope.
Nothing warmed my heart more than seeing the Palin's passing little Trig back and forth on the stage at the Republican National Convention. Having that little boy in the spotlight , bringing the nation's gaze on the love in their family, hearing Sarah say to parents of special needs kids, "You will have an advocate in the White House!"--it all gives me hope.
"There's purpose in this for a greater good to be met... I feel so privileged and blessed to have been chosen to have Trig in our lives. I do want it to help us in our cause... in allowing America to be a more welcoming nation for all of our children. The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are most vulnerable."
--Sarah Palin
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When I see Trig, I see courage.
Sarah deserves praise, not criticism. Trig deserves love, not hatred. It takes courage and character to stand up for what you believe in, and to "walk the walk," as Sarah puts it. Character is what is sorely lacking in Washington! Let's put some of it back there [on November 4th]!
14 comments:
Lovely pictures. It is a remarkable picture of Governor Palin as a loving, compassionate parent and an unselfish willingness to face the challenges of raising a special needs child. Very impressive.
Yours in Christ,
Thomas
She is very inspirational to us all. She has done an awesome job at heralding the message that children with Down syndrome have value and something to contribute to our lives. Go Sarah!
Just wanted to say I am voting McCain/Palin!
Thanks Karen for that great post. My favorite pictures was of Senator McCain giving Trig a kiss. How much more human can it get?
I have a friend who's 3 year old brother has down syndrome, he's such a cool little kid. There is NOTHING wrong with children who have down syndrome or any other "disability." I think typical people don't realize that in fact we might be the "messed up" ones, the people who we say are "disabled" are usually happier and more joyful than the rest of society!
filius,
I couldn't agree more. I have often thought the very same thing. :-)
When I see Trig, I see a baby who just happened to be born with down syndrome. I don't understand why having a baby with down syndrome makes Sarah Palin so admirable. All of the mothers I know who are raising children with special needs have loved and cared for their special needs children to the utmost degree. I know this may come as a surprise to you, but many of these mothers are liberals. Love for children transcends politics, so I'm not quite sure what you're trying to prove with your message. You paint liberals with a very broad brush by suggesting we're all baby killers, which is just complete hyperbole. Liberal mothers are just as caring a nurturing as conservative mothers. My wife & I are pro-choice, but she's never had an abortion herself and never will. If we happen to have a child with special needs, we will rise to the loving challenge just as the Palin family has.
Michael, you are absolutely right. I am sure there are many who have been blessed by God with a child who has DS that are liberals and I feel certain that they are every bit as good a parent as a conservative. However, many from your own party, here on this site, have suggested that Sarah Palin isn't worthy of the office simply because she failed to abort Trig. She has been ridiculed in the media for her decision and it is for that reason that we honor her here. Many on YOUR side of the aisle have suggested these children are good for nothing, best to be cast aside, murdered, because of their uselessness. Don't believe it? Do some research...you will find it everywhere, even in a blog called "retards for palin"--designed specifically to make fun of Trig and others like him, and their precious parents who made the CHOICE to give them life.
I think that people on both sides have aborted children with DS and other "conditions." If 90% are aborted I bet about half of those aborted were from conservative mothers, since Liberals aren't the only ones blessed by these children. An in addition, there is also many a conservative mom who is against abortion, unless them or their daughter is the only pregnant with a child with DS or anything else, there are pro-lifers who have their teenage daughters get abortions, so it's not a liberals vs. conservative things, both sides of the aisle need to change their view toward the value of live. That includes abortion, immigration, health-care, euthanasia, and the death penalty. In America we see life as just another product, something to take advantage of, and that's on both sides of the aisle! (Sorry for the long post)
I beg to differ. Saying "In America we see life as just another product" is just plain wrong...I can speak for myself and many many conservatives I know. I do NOT see life as just another "product"--in fact, it is quite the opposite, and I certainly do not see a precious baby as an object that can be merely discarded in a dumpster! I truly wish, with everything in me, that all Americans could come together, on the side of LIFE.
Also I'd like to see the figures on those conservatives you talk about making their daughters have abortions. I'd like to know where you got that from.
Well it's not really a statistic it's just from life experience. Abortions don't just happen to Liberals. And there is a woman who works at an advocacy group in Chicago that used to work in an abortion clinic (then she repented) and she talked about how this woman and her daughter used to stand outside and protest but then her daughter became pregnant by a black man and her mom brought her in for an abortion, and when she asked the woman "I thought you were against this" they lady said well I am you people are evil but it's just this once. Abortion is a plague in our society and it is not just in liberal LA or the most liberal communities of New York where they happen, they happen in small towns in Illinois and Mississippi as well as the big cities. With 1.5 million abortions per year no one can tell me that at least 40% of those are so-called conservatives. We have got to move past these archaic labels, abortion happens to America, not to liberals. Oh, I forgot to say that as a whole we do see life as a product in the way we as a society treat it. We treat babies like medical waste, we treat immigrants like criminals (when it's our fault they suffer at home), we treat the poor like they are being punished by God or something, and corporations use us and throw us away. Everyone and everything is something to be used like an orange until there is nothing left to juice, that's what our individualist society is about, ME ME ME, leave me alone with my home and my church and my gun, whatever happens to the rest of you "oh well." But I am way off the subject, I was just answering your question.
Well, in the future, don't claim to speak for conservatives when you aren't one. Sure, there are conservatives out there who speak out of both sides of their mouth, that's for sure-but to suggest that we're all in back rooms killing our babies when you have nothing to back it up is outrageous. To claim that 40% of all abortions are committed by conservatives, just because you feel like pulling that number out of thin air, shows unbelievable ignorance and lack of ability to find any real facts.
What happened to personal responsibility? MANY immigrants come here and work themselves to death to make a life for their families. I admire that immensly--many, however, come here illegally and live off the taxpayers. They do not deserve to be here...and they are criminals. They wish to come here and live freely, but not contribute to a productive society! We have elderly people who can barely afford to live, and yet you have a candidate who wishes to give the social security they worked their entire lives contributing to, to illegal aliens. THAT is outrageous.
That's right, the government needs to know it's place, and stay out of our lives where it's uncessary. You people wish to have the government come in and safe your sorry butts while you live off the rest of us who work for a living. That is NOT the purpose of government. You wanna live in a communist country, go to Cuba or some other such place.
Your argument clearly tells me you are a marxist...unless you, like your "dear one" are trying to re-define that too.
From Dan:
All of the political nonsense in response to Karen's post misses the point. When a society aborts 90% of mentally retarded individuals, that's simply downright evil. Even if the so-called pro-choice viewpoint were correct, by aborting such an alarmingly high percentage of mentally retarded individuals our society by its actions is making a statement that a mentally retarded human being is worth far less than a human being who is more intelligent. Such a position is frightening and places our nation on a very dangerous slippery slope morally.
The 10% who are resisting that tide of evil by allowing these children to be born and by nurturing them are to be applauded, regardless of who they are. That includes Sarah Palin. And our society should be ashamed of Barrack Hussein Obama for supporting policies that allow these children to die without care after having survived an abortion attempt.
When you vote on Tuesday, vote for the right and against the evil. It's that simple.
Dan, father of a son with Down syndrome
Wonderful pictures nd very well written...
What an inspiration you and the Palins are...
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