Horton Hears a Who

I had another topic for this blog entry, but then my mind began wandering toward a rabbit-hole and I fell in.  That is a normal occurrence for me.  

It all began when I realized it's Saturday; since Cliff retired, I have little reason to keep track of what day it is.  Now that I'm going to church on Sundays, though, I have a marker that helps keep me aware of the passage of days.  So I went from "OK, it's Saturday, February the first" to "tomorrow's church day".  I hoped between the two churches, they'd be singing some of my favorite hymns; the first thing I do when I get to either church service is to scan the bulletin to see what hymns we'll be singing; then I look at what the sermon topic is going to be.

I already know what the Methodist preacher will be using as a topic, because it's a series based on Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss.  He preached the first in the series last Sunday, and yes, it made a good sermon indeed, even though Dr. Seuss was an atheist.  The pastor suggested all of us who weren't familiar with the book get hold of a copy and read it; when that came to mind this morning, I realized the iPad was beside me, so that allows me to access the library using the Libby app and check out any book I want.  I think the only two Dr. Seuss books my kids had were Green Eggs and Ham and Hand Hand Fingers Thumb (or as Cliff and I called it, "Dum Ditty Dum"), so I wasn't familiar with this one.  I had thirty minutes before time for Cliff to get up:  it's a kid's book, how long could it possibly take to read it?

(By the way, have I ever mentioned both my preachers, the Methodist and the Baptist, are named David?  But I digress.)

Well, the book was longer than some, but I managed to wake Cliff up at the right time.  However, as soon as I began reading the book, I saw a subtle message therein, one I'm sure the preacher didn't have in mind.  Spoiler alert!  If you don't want to know how the book ends, stop reading this paragraph.  I always wanted to use that phrase.  Ha!  The story goes like this:  An elephant began hearing tiny voices in the forest because his ears were so big he had super-hearing.  His friends couldn't hear a thing, decided Horton was crazy, and set out to convince him he was wrong.  In the end, Horton manages to get the tiny "Whos" to make enough racket for others to hear so they'd be convinced, and they all lived happily ever after.  

But I hadn't reading long before I got to the line, "A person's a person, no matter how small."

Judging from last week's sermon, the preacher is using the story to illustrate the Bible principle that every person is important in God's sight, but as I read page after page, what I saw was this:  Don't kill babies.

I am no longer a member of a political party.  I sometimes call myself a Libertarian, but even several points of their agenda doesn't suit me.  The other two parties seem to be nothing but machines that work to keep money flowing from one crook to another, letting big business bribe them so they'll support certain bills and causes.  Still, I'd probably vote for some of the more liberal front-runners except for one thing:  Abortion.    

There was a time I struggled with the abortion issue, but in the end I was unable to believe the claim that a fetus is not a baby.  It just doesn't make sense to me; it's no different than saying, "Your child is an infant, not a baby",  or "That kid is a toddler, not a baby" .  At what point does the fetus magically transform into a human?  There have been premature babies who lived after being born less than six months in the womb, so I guess we know they turn into a human before that.  Am I the only one who sees how ridiculous that is?  Killing a tiny human devalues the lives of all people.  

I am a spirit.  I have a soul.  I live in a body.  And so does that tiny speck that is growing so strong and lively, desparately wanting to make a mark on the world.

The Bible tells us God knew each of us before we were born,  Even if I were an atheist, though, I could never convince myself it's right to murder a human being. 

A person's a person, no matter how small.