Life

We need to be clear about life. How is it defined?

If you read the bible, some of the clearest definitions are when god speaks - the things that god defines, stay defined. The bible and the complete works of william shakespeare are the two books in the english language that have had the greatest impact on literature.

When did god speak? How? God spoke through people, just like you and me. And he was a voice from the storm. His words were a sound you could feel in your gut.

If an embryo sees three months of life, it is a person. Cells drive themselves apart immediately after the egg is fertilized. We see the spine appear first. Then central nervous tissue. This all happens before three months of gestation. But the egg is not alive.

And at three months, the egg becomes a helpless person with a huge series of disabilities and conditions that would keep it from ever being normal if it were born into the world. No different than a person confined in a wheelchair. Stephen Hawking. Three months. Its that simple.

Its alright to try to prevent the destruction of the baby after this. We all try to save life, even on an overpopulated planet - its the way we are. However, much more important are the people who would help the mother, if she would choose to go through with the act of bringing the baby into the world. To keep her safe, and give her good care, and counseling - and keep the baby healthy. This is the end of abortion. Not laws or punishments or threats but a welcoming hand.

In life, you can also find people who are alive, and not alive. And not just people you meet in the office on Monday morning who look like they could really use a cup of coffee.

If someone lives for three years in a coma, or loses one third of their brain to the atrophy of coma, or a persistent vegetative state, then they are not alive. But before this, they are in a living nightmare and no more dead than if you or I were trapped in darkness . Your cells are programmed to die. Its called calpaine oncosis I think. At a certain point there are programmed orders to destroy yourself -within you. They are not programmed to respond to machines.

This is the rule of three. Three months before a child is alive. Three years of coma before a person is no longer alive. One third of a persons brain, before the persons brain is no longer alive.

The brain can regenerate, so exception should be made for anything that can regrow the loss - to lose a third of your brain, and be considered dead, applies only to people in persistent vegetative state. There are people in my office right now, that have lost more brain mass than this and they're still making their deadlines.

In the words of a friend of mine .. "Hope it helps"