Letter to the Editor
Unconditional love
Published Sunday, April 27, 2008
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To the editor:
I have read with interest the two news articles about the governor’s new baby. As the mother of a 39-year-old Down syndrome man I am offended by the description of a Down syndrome person. Many people with DS do not have the characteristics mentioned.
Their saying: “We are more alike than different” says it all. For more information, go to the National Down Syndrome Congress Web site: www.ndsccenter.org. The serious heart defect is one of unconditional love and if we all had that defect this would be a better world.
Community Discussion
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Thank you Nancy. I was so dismayed by some of the comments & hoped they were not too awful to families that include DS members. Fortunately many other members of the community consider how we are all alike.
I agree that the judgment of some people is amazing. I like Governor Palin and I voted for her. Do I like every decision she makes??? NO…..do I like every decision my husband, children, friends, etc makes??? NO. Why people would expect anyone to make every decision just as they would is beyond me. Critical of her decision to hide her pregnancy in the first place??? OH MY!!!! I can’t believe that people would point to “proof” of her untrustworthiness by pointing out that she hid her pregnancy until she was 7 months along. I have to admit I am jealous that she COULD hide her pregnancy that long!!!! I was “outed” at about 3 – 4 months every time!!! Then about her flying so late in the pregnancy……??? Give me a break people. She is not a stupid woman, this was her 5th child, and women know their bodies better than ANYONE else…..including their doctor!!!! I have had nine children and I know my limits. Yes things can go wrong at any moment in time but even if she had given birth on the plane, really not a big deal. She did made an experienced decision that she made with the assistance of her physician. Women have been delivering babies for many, many years and for an experienced mom that pays attention to her body, she usually knows her boundaries.
I am also offended when people say...."that is so sad." As the mother of a child of 6 with severe physical special needs (a lot of people assume there is a mental defect even though there is not because of his physical state). I do not want any of you to feel sorry for me or my husband and I would guess that Governor Palin and family feel the same way. Of course I have no way of knowing for sure. I have not talked to her about any of this YET. But when we chat next I should have a better insight.
Parents of children with special needs as a rule do not want your sympathy for their situation. We are in a different place then we expected when we started the journey to the birth of our child but it is not a bad place.....just different.....different "rule book"......different way of life, but DEFINATLY not a bad place!!!! I do feel sadness for what my child will face as he continues to get older and find his place in life but it is NOT, nor has it ever been, about me!!!
People with disabilities tend to actually be much nicer people to be around. Might be because they are more tolerant because they know the struggle of life and/or because they just have a natural ability to love and appreciate people in general. Whatever the reason……I would not trade my son for all the money in the world and I am sure the Palin family feels the same way.
Every person that I know that has Downs……and I know several……..are beautiful people and everyone loves them.
Personally, I'm just astounded that ANYONE would have 5 (or more) children in modern times.
Do you have any idea the drain that your plethora of offspring will place on our future?
You do realize that we are just bugs in a jar here on this ball of dirt, right? There's only so much space left. If your ilk continue to have 5 to 9 (or more) kids per couple, our grandchildren are going to have to eat each other just to avoid starvation.
Your greediness and lack of global responsibility is simply staggering.
In times of pending global shortages, recycling, and worries over sustainable standards of living, your proliferation excuses me from all concerns of conservation -- your offspring will consume more than 5 times that of mine (assuming mine will have a much higher standard of living than yours - which will most likely be the case). And, if your children continue your tradition, your grandchildren will consume somewhere around 2 orders of magnitude more than mine.
Even if I go buy a truck with really crappy gas mileage and make sure that I never use a recyclable material in my life - I still wouldn't come close to consuming as much as you and your brood.
Newsreader: unbelievable. for you to say it's "ASTOUNDING" that "ANYONE" would have more then 5 children?? Who are you to say? selfish!....N E ways.. KUDOS to all the parents out there! Children are blessings!!
How do you figure selfish?
If I was selfish, I'd have 10 kids, collect $20,000 a year in PFDs and end up getting more that a quarter of a MILLION dollars from the state over the years.
If I was selfish, I'd have 10 kids and end up giving each of them 1/10th of what my one will receive. Hmm, let's see, give each kid a few thousand to make their way in the world or $20,000 - $30,000 to get started in life.
I'd say my post and my plea was for being selfLESS.
I think we can all be thankful that newsreader was not able to produce and indoctrinate more offspring. We can also hope that he has done a good enough job not to have any grandchildren who will continue to seed the planet with his genes.
Thank you akvuntut! I too am amazed! :-)
OH MY newsreader.....I don't quite know how to respond to you. Not because I lack the ability to respond but because it is unbelievable to me that a person can think the way that you do!!
Very small description of me: Married over 23 years, take care of our children, do not live off the state, and are rising intelligent beautiful children to be taxpaying citizens. For you to assume that you have a higher standard of living then us.....all I can say is WOW! You may or may not have a higher standard of living then us....since I do not know you I would not dare to say one way or the other, but your assumption is amazing. I am not going to get into a war over who has more money, us or you....that is just stupid....but just because a person has several children does not mean they don't pull their own weight in society. We have some very close friends that have 13 children and I don't know very many people that have the bank account that they have. No they don't live in Alaska so they are not depleting "your PFD" but they also do not use very many of their children with their taxes......so they pay out a ton of taxes, probably way more then you (sorry...there I go assuming). POINT.....you might want to be careful of your judgment of people because you have no way of knowing how they are living, at what standard, and who is footing the bill!!!
BTW.....you and your OFFSPRING might be bugs in a jar but me and my CHILDREN, and hubby are not!!! Children are a blessing and for those of you that don't think so.....hopefully you won't have any to ruin.
culltheherd.....we can only hope and pray! LOL
Apparently you have completely missed the point I was trying to make, as no one has responded to the actual meat of the argument which is that you are going to cause overpopulation by continuing to reproduce at such a prodigious rate.
The bugs in a jar is an analogy -- I thought everyone had heard of it, but apparently that is not the case. The fact is that this planet is a closed system. It is only so big. It is like a jar with a lid on it. Now, once the jar is full, there will be no more room.
Suppose we have bugs in a jar which reproduce once every 15 minutes. Suppose the jar is only about 1.5625% full. Seems like there is plenty of space for every one forever, right?
Lets look at it though - if the population only DOUBLEs every 15 minutes (not 3-5 or more times), then the bugs have how long left?
1.5625 -> 3.125 -> 6.25 -> 12.5 -> 25 -> 50 -> 100
So, the bugs have 1 hour 30 minutes to live.
Now, look at us in the same light. We have over 6 billion people on the planet. How many do you think our planet can sustain? Suppose you say 100 billion (which is NOT EVEN CLOSE to possible). Suppose we double our population every 50 years (not 3 - 5 times, just double).
6 -> 12 -> 24 -> 48 -> 96
So, we have maybe 200 years before we ALL run out of room and resources. Now, lets suppose we quintuple the population (by having 10 kids each).
6 -> 30 -> 150
Now, we only have about 75 years to live.
Do you start to see what I'm getting at now?
Now, do you have an intelligent arguments to refute this, or will you just continue with the personal attacks and clucking about standards of living for THIS generation?
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0cents --
The meth was last decade (statute of limitations anyone?)... Been clean for a long time - I'll happily take a drug test to prove that. Crack's nasty - I wouldn't do it. I never said I sold drugs. Last time I checked, there are no laws against doing drugs, just laws against possession, manufacture, and trafficking, none of which I have confessed to. And, I quit when I had my child so that it wouldn't influence my parenting. So, I'm an EX-addict.
As far as this other person goes, I said he did 5 years, not 3. I also said that this other person stopped a LONG time ago. He's got nothing to show for it (except a record), so I don't know how you'd possibly try to prove any tax fraud.
Finally, you are still simply engaging in personal attacks and COMPLETELY ignoring the point I was trying to make on this post.
Have a nice day! :-)
Human Population Statistics:
1 billion 1804
2 billion 1927
3 billion 1960
4 billion 1974
5 billion 1987
6 billion 1999
Note -- Increases are occuring more and more rapidly
It took thousands of years to reach 1 billion, 123 years
to reach 2, 33 years to reach 3, 14 years to reach 4,
13 years to reach 5, 12 years to reach 6...
Do you see the trend?
How long is it going to take to fill up this jar if people have 5 to 9 offspring? Compare that to how long it will take to fill the jar if we all only have 2...
The latter is entirely sustainable, the former most certainly is not.
I don't know if I can make it any plainer than that.
Newsreader:
Here's my logic: People die. Always have, always will.
Factor that into your equation.
Also, I'm 39 years old and have NO children. I'll be a happy and blessed camper to have some one day, but for now I have none. So factor THAT into your equation as well!
ADF --
You are correct, people die of unnatural causes all the time. However, the average life span is also growing at a pretty good rate. As medical technology advances, life spans will continue to advance.
There are many factors that will reduce the rate of the exponential curve that is population growth -- but none of them will truly stop it from being exponential, save personal choice to do so or legislation to force people to do so.
Eventually, the entire world will have to legislate population growth (as China has already done) if we continue unchecked. We can avoid that happening by growing a "global conscious", exercising a foreward thinking, and taking personal responsibility to create a truly sustainable population base.
newsreader: [which is NOT EVEN CLOSE to possible).]
I find it amazing that you know how many people our planet can sustain. None of us, including you, knows what our planet can take and what it cannot. It is all guess work on our part…..including the whole Global Warming theory. Since I KNOW that the creator of this planet knows what it can and cannot handle I prefer to leave it up to Him to do the population control. Since He is the one that created us in the first place it only makes since to defer to Him.
Now that being said. I do not think we should be reckless with the resources that we have. I do think we need to conserve what we can without removing all conveniences from our lives. I am all for driving the economical vehicles, burning the cleanest fuels, disposing of trash appropriately, etc, etc. But....none of that should ever be legislated! We should all try to do our part but there is the division…..what is our part? I am not going to give up my internet...which means I won’t give up electricity, etc. etc. I am going to drive a larger vehicle because I have a large family, but I do drive the smaller one when I don't need the large one. I could go on and on. However....children are not on that conservation list and should not be on that list.
This paragraph may apply to you or it may not....I am going to generalize so don't write me back all mad if this does not apply to you. But....it amazes me that for the most part, people that get all up in arms about what we should and should not do to keep our planet healthy...global warming…turn off the lights….yeah right....don't kill the animals because they have rights too....don't drive anything over a 4 cyl.....don't use plastic......don't hunt the wolves.....oh and yes....don't have more than one child if you absolutely have to even have that one......etc, etc, etc, etc.....are the same people that are out there supporting the right to kill babies by the millions. Don't kill the wolves but no problem....kill the babies. There are probably some people that would be of the mindset for Governor Palin to kill her baby…..if not because he was #5 and not needed……but because he has DS??? If you “read between the lines” of what Governor Palin and her husband Todd said about the pregnancy, this pregnancy was not planned. But even if it was……so what! Things happen, life changes, and I believe they will be blessed all the more for welcoming this unexpected change in their lives with open arms!!!!
All children are blessings from God (oh no….did I dare say that)……
Oh, one more thing for you to think about 0cent...
I consider myself to be in good company as a confessed EX user. Perhaps you've heard of a couple of others?
Bill Clinton (marijuana)
George W Bush (cocaine)
Do you want to try to incite people to have them thrown in jail as well?
*shakes head*
"None of us, including you, knows what our planet can take and what it cannot."
I never claimed to know what the limit was, I merely stated that there was one. If you want to somehow refute that statement, I'd be happy to entertain your arguments...
It is ironic that you would say "I do not think we should be reckless with the resources that we have" when you are being far more reckless than I could ever be simply by creating so many offspring.
I find it incredibly gratifying that you admitted that it is your religion that is your excuse for your reckless actions. You people just keep proving, over and over, the points that I've been making on the Newsminer website. Thanks for that :)
[BTW - abortion fits perfectly into my argument of overpopulation. There is no conflict between wanting to stabilize population growth and allowing abortions. In fact, the two go hand-in-hand.]
Whatever.....every person’s belief or religion is what drives the decisions for their lives. It is your beliefs that drive your thoughts on life so don't try to make it sound like it is only people that choose to believe in God that base their life choices on belief. You choose to believe in something different then me but our decisions are still based on a belief system. For the people that think that China has all the right answers then maybe they should consider moving there. I, as well as everyone I know, will do our best to never let China's "population growth" regimen ever be legislated in this country!!!! It might be part of your belief system to KILL people……especially to the “least of these”…….but it is not mine and thankfully……not the belief system of a majority of Americans, of which I am proud to be a part of.
But……I will agree with you that the tide is changing. For a country that was built on Godly principles it is amazing the moral decline in our country which is so young!!! The day is coming when God will say…..enough is enough. I firmly believe that will happen long before we manage to over populate the earth!!!! So although there are some things we can and should do to take care of our planet. Crossing the line and determining that a baby needs to be killed so that you have more space to roam is not one of them!!!!
Back closer to topic!!!
The Special Mother
by Erma Bombeck
Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.
This year nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of special needs or handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped
children are chosen?
Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth; son. Patron saint...give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
"Forrest, Marjorie; daughter. Patron saint, Cecelia."
"Rutledge, Carrie; twins. Patron saint, Matthew."
Finally He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a special needs/handicapped child."
The angel is curious. "Why this one God? She's so happy."
"Exactly," smiles God, "Could I give a special needs / handicapped child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."
"But has she patience?" asks the angel.
"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it."
"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has her own world. She has to make her live in her world and that's not going to be easy."
"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you." God smiles, "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect - she has just enough selfishness. "The angel gasps - "selfishness? is that a virtue?"
God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied.
She will never take for granted a 'spoken word'". She will consider a step extraordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle, and will know it!"
“I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice....and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing My work as surely as if she is here by My side".
"And what about her Patron saint?" asks the angel, pen poised in mid-air.
God smiles, "A mirror will suffice."
Governor Palin a Patron saint? Who knows, but God chose her to be the mother of a VERY special child and she should feel nothing but honor!!!
Newsreader
You made the statement (I quit when I had my child so that it wouldn't influence my parenting.) By that statement I would beleive that you are female. If you are female and waiting until after you have a child, doing Meth during your pregnancy then your judgement is not one that I would consider to be a good parent. As for personal attacks anyone that believes in god you attack them. You also try to put anyone down because you say you are smarter them all the other people. Your opinion is the only right one.
I will agree with one think that population growth is a problem. Will you be the self appointed person that will judge who shall live or die? Are you the one that will be in charge of a sustainable population base?
The USA is not the one with the over population. There are other countrys that are bigger problems.
Have your ever look at a light map from a satellite and seen were the biggest power consumption is from? Its not from the US.
*shakes head*
Newsreader,
I'm with you all the way. People in general seem to lack the ability to see the big picture, or else they don't care to. Ignorance certainly is bliss. Either way, the human race is going to be in trouble if current population trends continue. And the Pope and Catholici