Shattered Soul

As time goes on, my soul is ignored
As the door to the room that’s gone unexplored.
Like an empty house that people abandoned,
Dusty and dirty, my soul, I imagine.
The windows that I used to look in to see,
The soul that was once so reflective of me,
Are shattered and broken, too hard to repair!
Now remembering, I drop to my knees in despair.
The soul I once thought to be my dearest friend,
I’ve left with that old house that no one will mend.
Cobwebs and spiders, my soul’s roommates are.
Alone and unwanted, what’s left? Just a scar;
A wound in my heart that will never cure!
Consequences of which, I’ll have to endure.

Mission: Abort! (Controversial Essay)

Statistics are rapidly rising as the apparent “trend,” entailing unmarried women having abortions performed on them, grows increasingly popular in our society today. Approximately sixty-four percent of all abortions are carried out on never-married women. Women who are married make up about eighteen percent, and women who are divorced acquire nearly ten percent. About ninety-three percent of all abortions take place for social reasons (e.g. if the child is “ill-timed” or unwanted). Six percent of abortions result because of prospective health problems concerning either the mother or the child, and one percent of all abortions occur because of incest or even rape (The Centre for Bio-ethical Reform). The majority of women, who have abortions done on them, only do it for selfish reasons. They really don’t care about the child growing inside of them. Despite popular belief that the mother has the right to do what she likes with her body, the unborn baby has the right to his or her own life, and the choice shouldn’t be made for him or her.

Those who are Pro-life believe that abortion is murder. Timothy “Tim” Richard Tebow, who was born on August 14, 1987, is the “American football quarterback for the Florida Gators” (Tim Tebow Zone). He was the very first college football player ever to both “rush and pass for 20 touchdowns in a season and was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy” (Tim Tebow Zone). Before discussing his numerous successes, however, we shall backtrack to before he was even born. His parents, Bob and Pam Tebow, were serving as Christian missionaries in Makati City in the Philippines at the time. While pregnant, Pam experienced a severe infection with a “pathogenic amoeba.” Due to the drugs used to revive her from her coma and to remedy her dysentery, the unborn baby experienced a critical placental abruption. Because the doctors expected a stillbirth, they suggested an abortion in order to protect her life. Pam refused, however, and carried her child to term. Both survived (Tim Tebow Zone). Abortion was not something that either she or her husband, Bob, believed in. Pam chose to risk her life instead of ending the life of her unborn son. Her actions were truly selfless. She knew that a life was (and is) a life, and it wasn’t up to her to choose whether her baby was meant to live or not.

Those who are Pro-choice deem the unborn child as simply a fetus and nothing more. Those who claim to be Pro-choice would’ve said that Pam Tebow should have had an abortion instead of risking her life to give birth to her child. They would maintain that aborting a zygote or an embryo is not the same as “killing a baby.” They would say that a miniature mass of maturing cells is not a baby because “it doesn’t have the neural mass, organization or experience to have much sentience” (43). For the beginning stages of pregnancy, when most of all abortions take place, “supposing otherwise is far-fetched speculation” (43).

While both sides have their “valid” points, only one group can be right. In Tim Tebow’s short lifetime, so far, he has accomplished a huge amount of success, often referred to as “A Walking Freight Truck” (Tim Tebow Biography). Tebow played quarterback for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he became a Division I-A recruit and placed among the top quarterback prospects in the nation as a senior (Tim Tebow Biography). He chose to attend the University of Florida over the University of Alabama, after a tough recruiting battle. “Tebow, being a dual threat quarterback adept at rushing and passing the football, was used in his freshman season largely as a change of pace to the Gator’s more traditional quarterback, Chris Leak” (Tim Tebow Zone). As a junior, Tim Tebow ’s stock rose as he became a prestigious, highly recruited major college quarterback prospect. Tebow, as quarterback, continued to amaze during his senior season, leading the Nease Panthers to a state title, receiving All-State honors, was named Florida's Mr. Football and a Parade All-American. Tim Tebow finished his high school career with 9,810 passing yards, 3,186 rushing yards, 95 passing touchdowns and 62 rushing touchdowns. “He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Game in San Antonio, Texas, which features the top 78 senior high school football players in the nation and is shown nationally on NBC television” (Tim Tebow Biography). Timothy Tebow is 6’3” and 225 lb (1.91 m, 102 kg). He’s incredibly healthy, at the optimum level of fitness, and thriving! In addition to all of this, he's also known by virtually everyone for something else - his "eye black". Tim Tebow has become legendary for displaying Bible verses on his face during his football games. It’s a tribute to his Christian faith, and it’s an endeavor to send a message to a large audience! Imagine if Bob and Pam Tebow had decided to toss away the risks and abort the unborn Timothy. His Christian witness on the football field would not and could not possibly exist. Tim Tebow’s strategy with his “eye black” has caught much media attention. He has such a unique opportunity to spread the Word of God, and he’s using it! But, again, where would we be (where would the Florida Gators be) if Tim Tebow’s parents had taken the doctor’s advice and aborted him? As someone, in an article published in the Democrat Gazette in ‘93, once said:

“The test of a civilized society, it seems to us, is how it treats the most vulnerable - the old and sick, the young and ignorant, the poor and disabled, the homeless and despised, the dispossessed and imprisoned. The least among us. Once upon a time there would have been no hesitation to include in such a category life in the womb. Now there is a ‘serious’ question about whether it is human life at all. (What else could it be– an aardvark?) Once there was a folk metaphor for security- ‘as safe as a child in its mother’s womb.’ At the rate of 1.6 million abortions a year in America… surely few would make any such assumptions now. Abortion is wrong. If abortion is not wrong, then nothing is” (19).

The author of this brilliant article, whoever he or she was, was right! If abortion isn’t wrong, then, really, nothing is! Nothing at all.

Every child has the right to life. No child would choose to die! A baby, who hasn’t even been given the chance to live yet, wouldn’t choose to end his or her own life. Society needs to realize that it’s not just about what the mother wants. The baby has a right to life, and it’s not up to her to decide whether the child should live or die. It is imperative to bring to the attention of these women the fact that they are responsible for the life of the child growing inside of them. An expecting mother can’t just make a decision on a whim, for her decision will not just affect her life, but it will significantly affect the life of her child as well. Christians need to motivate the church to educate women on the alternative of adoption or even raising the child herself. Rather than condemning them, the church needs to let women who are in a crisis pregnancy situation know that they are going to be encouraged, loved, and protected. The future of this world is in the hands of citizens in society today. Society needs to take action against the rising statistics of unborn babies being murdered, or, eventually, there won’t even be a future generation.

Awakening

Today I realized something:
I realized I've been asleep.
I've been living this life,
From day to day,
As if life were just a dream.
Bearing no burdens,
Bearing no shame,
Dreaming each hour and minute away!
This dream is constant.
Never ending.
This is the truth,
I'm not pretending.
I will wake up,
I'll shake this off,
Begin living my life,
And get off the floor.
I'll open my eyes,
And start getting dressed,
Watch my first sunrise
Again and again.
I'll open my eyes
And unlock the door.
I'll live out my life
As I should have before.

Environmentally Unfriendly (Definition Essay)

While many have never been in an abortion clinic before, it is very important to know what the setting is like in order to get a better picture of what women go through when they consider undergoing an abortion. The panorama, the din, the aroma, the ambiance, as well as the levels of comfort in the waiting room are all exceptionally essential aspects to be educated on. Even though waiting rooms are meant to be a place where people can wait in comfort and in security, abortion clinic waiting rooms tend to provide just the opposite service. Abortion clinic waiting rooms are very unpleasant environments to be in.

The visual atmosphere of abortion clinic waiting rooms can be intimidating. The waiting room is more depressing than a morgue. The walls are white, and the chairs are white. Everything seems to be really white in those waiting rooms. The white walls can be almost luminescent and blinding. There are hardly any decorations or pictures on the walls aside from a clock and, perhaps, a “stages of pregnancy” chart that hangs on the wall, or even a simple modern art painting that, perhaps, has red, blue, and yellow dots and lines splashed across its canvas. The front desk is wooden and plain. Nothing but a stack of papers, a yellow mug that still has the remains of coffee in it, and an old, white ’99 Microsoft computer sits on her desk. A glass window, covered in fingerprints, shields the desk clerk’s world from the world of the waiting room. The clerk, herself, is reasonably pleasant, but her teeth are crooked as she looks up and forces a fake smile on her face. After asking a few questions and handing over a document or two to sign, she desk clerk will usher the patients to a seat somewhere in the room. If one were to look around, once seated, one would see that some of the women’s faces are akin to that of abandoned, forlorn puppies. Some of the women look like they might have been through this whole thing before as they flip through their fashion magazines nonchalantly. Other women have, evidently, never done this sort of thing before, and so some look around anxiously, some resort to biting their nails nervously, some do everything they can to keep the tears from flowing, and the rest sit in stone cold silence, gazing far off into another world, feigning indifference. It’s heartbreaking to see these girls in so much pain.

The silence can be deafening as one waits in the abortion clinic waiting rooms. The general lack of conversation among the men and women who are waiting to be seen by the doctors can be pretty unnerving. An occasional, whispered conversation might be faintly audible as a mother attempts to encourage her daughter. The second-hand of the clock tiptoes softly around the face of the clock. The chewing of gum is inaudible as a few of the impatient girls chew, the only thing that gives it away is the jaw moving in a clock-wise fashion, like that of a cow’s. The occasional tapping of a foot every now and then is heard, and the door squeaks as it opens every time someone comes in to the clinic. The distant rumble of a car’s engine is barely perceived and the uncommon honk of an angry driver is heard. One might heed the muffled tapping of keys on a keyboard as the desk clerk undoubtedly checks her Facebook profile while pretending to work. Other than these few, soft notes of sound, a waiting room is generally an intimidating, silent place to be.

The smell can be rather nauseating. The overpowering scent of disinfectant is strong enough to knock a visitor off of his or her feet! It fills the senses enough to make one want to get sick. After a short time, the stomach may begin to rumble due to the smell. To say one feels queasy in an abortion clinic waiting room would be an understatement.

The waiting room’s scent is so potent it can even be tasted. One can taste the bitter, disgusting disinfectant as it bathes on his or her tongue. It almost feels like is does when one accidentally gets shampoo in his or her mouth, or when one’s perfume is inadvertently sprayed on one’s tongue. It’s nearly impossible to erase the taste! No amount of toothpaste will cure the damaging imagery that is permanently stuck in one’s head after the awful experience.

The seating arrangement makes the experience of waiting in the abortion clinic waiting rooms almost unbearable. The chairs are incredibly uncomfortable, and, even if one isn’t there to see a doctor or medical advisor, it’s easy to empathise with the girls who are waiting in intense anticipation, anxious, uncomfortable, and frightened. The chairs are made of plastic, and they squeak each time one tries to readjust the way he or she is sitting. They are placed very closely together, making the ideal of personal space impractical.

Abortion clinic waiting rooms are horrible places to be situated in. Knowing what these girls go through, just to see a doctor, can be really distressing for an onlooker. It’s hard to understand why the managers of these establishments don’t even try to make their patrons relaxed and at ease. If the managers just put a little effort into making the waiting rooms a little more pleasant, maybe the girls wouldn’t be as nervous or as terrified as they are. On that note, however, I think that this just shows that these doctors, for the most part, don’t really care about the women sitting in the clinic’s waiting rooms, their chief concern is on how much business they are attaining! Abortion clinics are impersonal, painfully repulsive, and should be avoided. Women, who consider undergoing an abortion, should take the uncaring nature of a clinic’s waiting room into perspective. If the obviously cruel atmosphere of an abortion clinic waiting room is not enough of a clue to women that their doctors don’t care, it’s hard to say what would be.