On My Soapbox: When people say they want "healthy" kids
and some theology
I know that when most people say they want a “healthy baby”, they’re not being rude or mean. They’re probably trying to be nice.
But guys, I wasn’t a “healthy baby.” I looked healthy, initially, but I wasn’t. I had seizures. I had (and still have) thalessemia minor (I think it’s called type b now? Not sure). I got the CF diagnosis when I was 11.
So, should my parents have just pitched me back? “Nah, sorry, we wanted a non-defective model.”
And I know that people do that now. People kill their babies in the name of the kids “avoid suffering” in their lives. Bull crap. “Yes, let’s kill you, so you never get to have a life.”
That ties into part two: saying “God is Good” only when things go the way you want them to go.
Guys. God is good all the time. He is Good. It is in His very nature to be good. But that doesn’t mean that God’s Goodness=what you want.
Because it doesn’t work that way.
God created me with my “defective” genetic code and my blue eyes and my blonde hair and my fair skin and my wonky teeth and an ankle that cracks oddly. I have a really good memory and I love children and I do a pretty good Sebastian the Crab imitation. I have The Phantom of the Opera libretto memorized. (And Les Miz. And Miss Saigon. And Ragtime. And Parade…)
And yeah, I also have CF. I had a transplant. I’ve got scars. And I do talk about it, because it has become clear to me that it has to be talked about, because people see illness as scary and something to be avoided and pain as awful, to the point that Canada is allowing pediatric euthenasia.
God is always good. And God made me the way I am for a purpose. Is it always fun? No. It is not. There are times when I’ve been really peeved about it, to put it mildly.
But at the same time, it has made me who I am, and in general, I like who I am. I wouldn’t want to change that for the world.
God is not being “mean” to me. He created me the way he wants me to be.
And health doesn’t always stay health. Health is a transient thing, guys. Everyone will get sick. Everyone will die. It seems that in our society now we are idolizing life and health to the point that it is fully unhealthy. We’ve forgotten that we will die, that life is fleeting, that our home isn’t here.
Children are a gift from God, no matter how they come.
And God is always good. And He always loves me.
He always loves you, too. No matter what.