To be effective, pro-lifers must listen
If we are going to be effective, we have to care about who we are talking to. You’ve got to be sensitive to make a difference in someone’s world.
~ Jen Rumpf, president of Pro-Life Aggies, speaking at REveAL, one of several pro-life teen training camps being held across the U.S. this summer, as quoted by The New York Times, August 2, which added:
Ms. Rumpf and other counselors said they tried to teach campers to avoid commonly perceived anti-abortion “turnoffs” – in particular, an overly aggressive, judgmental approach. She said counselors focused on a gentler, compassion-based form of persuasion.
“You really care about this woman, and you really care that other people don’t know about this issue. But are they bad people?” she said. “No, they just might not know all of the truth. Because that is really the only way that pro-lifers are going to win anything is inviting them in to talk.”
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hi Jill & gang,
I’m very frustrated! I got into pro-life efforts because I am severely disabled and the writing-was-on-the-wall: would I die from my disease (natural causes) or would I be killed [through someone-else’s choice]? The race-was-on! Sure cannot say that I feel any ‘safer’ now, after decades of pro-life efforts …. just the opposite!
A while back, I found out that the mineral zinc was/is extremely important to human (and ALL) life processes. Zinc seems to be as important to ‘function’ (sex, thinking, breathing, running, playing, laughing, tumbling, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, ‘feeling’ [physical AND emotional] …) as calcium is to ‘structure’ teeth, bone, etc). None seems to know and act on this knowledge. It’s all so hohum!
So IF there is a societal deficiency (which IMHO, there is): we’ll be faced with numerous zinc-deficiency ‘problems’::: a) longevity (estimate of human lifespan is circa 130 years) - Why do we accept half this as ‘normal’? b) Why do we ‘need’ eyeglasses/hearing-aids? c) many, many birth defects are related to zinc and vitamin B6 deficiencies – 92% says a researcher in this area. [THIS IS MY CONJECTURE::: homosexuality (male version) and CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR seem very much tied in.]
I understand that many P-L will find this ‘interestig’ yet fail to act. YOUR offspring (grandchildren) will be impacted from your negligence.
Abortion as a historic phenomenon fits right in here. There is a specific pattern that developing humans have wherein the ‘need’ for extra zinc is expressed. These are: 1) @8-11wks gestation; 2) the whole 3rd.trimester, the yet-to-be-born needs extra zinc to prepare for life-outside-the-womb [eg – 2 days BEFORE birth, the pancreas begins to produce insulin. The insulin is required to make energy from consumed food. [Producing insulin is one (of many) zinc-dependent processes.]; 3) immediately AFTER BIRTH … a baby/infant needs zinc as part of its development processes physical + emotional (cerebellar-brain structures) + intellectual. It especially needs zinc to form a non-existant immune system. On a-nursing-mother’s part: zinc is THE most abundant mineral in colostrum (first-milk).; 4) PUBERTY and a few years beyond, is most significant because a developing human (males and females require extra zinc for their own development. A zinc-deficit is often seen by the development of zits and/or rapid-and-large mood shifts + incorrodination of movement (males). [White spots on nails is often a clinical feature.]
THIS IS a ‘problem’ because a person ‘feels’ they are right. [I AM RIGHT, DON’T DISTURB ME WITH THE FACTS.] This is ‘going-with-the-flow’ when many peers are experiencing the same things… why the ‘support’ from non-abortive women and peer-males. The empathy is correct but misplaced. ‘Feelings’ are emotions and IF generated by a zinc-deprived cerebellum they become suspect. Human-Rights are NOT feelings. I, and many disabled folks are doomed because most pro-lifers ‘feel’ that p-c’ers are wrong. [‘Feelings’ are insufficient protection.]
John,
I would agree with you. But Magnesium is also neglected. Most of all, water is overlooked. We need to “shower” on the inside even more than on the outside. We should drink half a gallon to one gallon a day, depending on our size.
We have to be careful about throwing minerals out of balance, however. You may be interested in the following website, which is all about mineral deficiencies.
http://www.acu-cell.com/
No matter what method is used, we have to make sure that people understand that abortion itself is the real “turn-off.”
Ms. Rumpf asked, “But are they bad people?”
Perhaps she asked the wrong question. ”Good teacher,” a certain ruler asked Jesus Christ, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18-19) Before answering that question, Jesus replied, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” Jesus wasn’t saying that He isn’t good; He was calling the ruler to examine his assumption and his moral standards—and perhaps the identity of Jesus.
Are we good people? According to the famous song about “amazing grace,” we are all worms and wretches. We’re all bad, and we all need to be saved. That’s also, I believe, the teaching of the Bible and of the Church.
The Pharisees asked Jesus, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:29). Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
I’ve got an article about a child murder that might be of interest because abortion figures in it at least tangentially: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/blog/article/a-mothers-failed-suicide-and-the-drowning-deaths-of-her-children/index.html
Hello John McDonnell! I’ve missed you and have often wondered how you are doing.
Hi Alexandra,
Things are much the same here – fantastic! The God Who loves me …. loves you too! … He told me so …..
Thank you, John. What a kind thing to say!
I’m good friends with someone who helps operate a crisis pregnancy centre, and she was very clear that we must not only listen to women in these situations but also resist the urge to scoff at some of their reasons.
Case in point; one recently came in, saying that she wanted an abortion because carrying this child would ruin her figure. I must confess that if I didn’t know better, I might have been openly condescending about that, but this friend of mine explained to me that, while it may seem a trivial or, to be frank, stupid reason, it’s important enough for her to consider killing her child, so we have to get at the root of that reason.
Was she afraid her boyfriend wouldn’t like her if she gained weight? Was she trying to become a model? Was she an equestrian?
Listening is the first step to understanding, and these women deserve nothing less.