I’ve Been Thinking About Making This Post For A While, And I Finally Decided To Make It.

I’ve been thinking about making this post for a while, and I finally decided to make it.

At a certain point in my life as a pro-choicer, I discovered something: In order to be intellectually honest in my pro-choice thinking, I had to be willing to look around at all of the people I knew—my family, my friends—and be willing to say, “It would be okay if you had never been born.” And I had to be willing to say the same about myself, too.

And I actually was willing to say this. While my mother was pregnant with me, my father tried to pressure her into an abortion, and you know what I thought when I found out? I thought, “She should have gone through with it.” I was a burden; I made everyone’s lives difficult; I wasn’t worth loving or sacrificing for; I didn’t matter. I had so completely internalized this message about myself that finding out that I had almost been killed in my mother’s womb was no big deal. I mean, hey, it would have saved us all a lot of suffering. The cost-benefit analysis seemed perfectly clear: I just wasn’t worth it.

I wasn’t quite so obviously callous in my estimation of other people’s worth, but, had they asked me if I believed that they mattered in any real way—mattered in some way which did not include some reference to my thoughts or feelings about them—I would have had to say no. I would have had to say, “I am overjoyed that you were born because you have contributed so much to my life, and you make me so happy, and I think you’re wonderful, and look at all of the people who love you, but, ultimately, if you had not been born, it would have been okay. At the end of the day, there is nothing necessary about your existence. You are replaceable.” Those were the consequences of my worldview—the worldview which says that each and every child conceived in his mother’s womb is theoretically disposable; the worldview which can talk about “what you have to offer” and how “useful” you are, but can say nothing about the worth of the “useless.”

And I think our society has done a pretty decent job at living out that vision: the Vision of Replaceability. We don’t just treat the unborn this way. We treat the born this way, too. We give up on our spouses when our marriages stop being “useful” contributions to our lives. We give up on our families when the going gets too tough. We give up on our romantic partners when “the spark is gone.” We give up on our friends when we’re not getting what we “need” from them. We’re a culture of quitters. We love when it’s convenient for us. And people are often inconvenient; they demand our time and attention and care; they’re not perfectly suited to our desires the way objects are. So, we objectify them. We pay attention when it suits us and then tuck them away on a shelf somewhere where we keep the rest of our “toys.”

Is it any wonder that we don’t think that we matter? We’ve never seen it. Is it any wonder that many of us cannot even conceive of true selflessness? That the notion that someone might actually want good things for you and might actually not expect anything in return and might actually not just be doing it because “it feels good to do good things” seems so foreign and strange? Should we be surprised? It’s all we know.

And this is the root of the culture of death. This is where death starts. It doesn’t start in war zones or brothels or abusive homes or abortion clinics or execution chambers. Those are its manifestations, but that’s not where death starts. Death starts with people as things. It starts with “you are only as necessary as you are useful.” It starts with “you are not precious; you are replaceable.”

So, we leave ourselves with no resources when we are truly confronted with death. We have nothing real to offer to the suicidal, the eating disordered, the self-injuring, the depressed, the lonely, the abused. Nothing but empty words. We may say, “You are irreplaceable,” but do we mean it? Do we know what it would mean to truly mean those words? I don’t think we do. Not as long as we see each other as “choices,” as “options” in a sea of options. Not as long as we cannot honestly look one another in the eye and say, “It would not have been okay if you had never been born. You belong alive, and you matter, not because of what you do, but because you are you.”

And for those of us who call ourselves pro-life, that has to mean something. It has to mean that we see people as people; that we treat them like people; that we love them. Maybe the reason that the pro-choice movement so often accuses us of “only caring about fetuses” isn’t all unwarranted hyperbole; maybe they’re responding to the very real lack of true, genuine, selfless love in our society, and maybe we’re all in that battle together. How on earth are any of us supposed to know that that’s possible—that we could matter in that way—unless someone shows us? That’s where the culture of life starts: the moment when we discover that we’re loved.

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pro life

More Posts from Curlycupgumweed and Others

curlycupgumweed

9 years ago

For Ask-this-black-rock-shooter

Art critique thing-a-ma-bobber.

(X) <-- Original Art (old link is dead :( have removed because it looks like the original artist has been hacked?) (X)<--- Wait! I found the new blog!

First of all I want to let you know that I am very impressed with your scenes! It’s often difficult to do a full body, but backgrounds too? Plus with the perspective and variety of scenes that I’m seeing here? You’re sure not taking the easy way out!

1. Speaking of perspective, in this first picture I don’t think that the angle of the girl matches the tub.

Not to say that mismatching perspective is a bad thing (in fact it can be quite rad) it just doesn’t seem intentional here.

If you lower her head more to the left, it’ll match better.

As for the picture itself, It’s really a cute concept. The idea of hanging in a tub with a boatload of duckies sounds very appealing right now. Bubbles seem like they would be an appropriate addition, but those can be a pain to draw, and they aren’t really needed.

2. Yay! Princess Tutu! I’ll start off by saying my favorite part of this is her face, it’s so serene and pleasant. (you do good work with the faces)

The leg has some strange anatomy. It’s a bit too far to the right. What I usually do when I’m drawing characters with something obscuring their legs (ie, dresses, other characters, ect) is to lightly draw the whole body, and then add whatever it is after.

Also, references are super useful. They’ve really helped me with various ballet poses.

3. Nice wideshot! I’m rather bad about practicing characters from various distances, so to see so much variety is very admirable. Her body language doesn’t seem to be that of one who has lost her papers. If you put the arms arms more to the side, then it’s easier to see how she’s come to lost them. (Also, I don’t know if you were going for a shocked expression, but i included some stuff for that too)

4. I can’t quite tell if this is supposed to be like a snowglobe, or a fortunetellers ball. (though I’m assuming snowglobe)

Also, her legs appear to be missing. (Sorry! I know that body parts tend to be undrawn whilst one is still working on the picture. It just seemed like you might be having some trouble as to where to place her lower half)

5. Hmmmmmm, I might suggest lighting up the lines on the neck because the tendons usually aren’t as pronounced unless a person is flexing them.

Other than that, I don’t really have much more to say on this one other than I’m eager to see where you go with this! She’s very mysterious, and alluring. Oh! Though, if you decide to color her I would suggest more muted colors rather than an intense pallet. (though who knows? Maybe you could pull off an amazing neon flower girl!)

6. Dis one is my favorite. It’s so whimsical, and sweet! I could totally see this in a storybook somewhere, or put in a little frame. I have no input on this one, but if you decide to work with it more, I would love to see!

7. This picture is very dramatic, from the pose to the coloring; however, I don’t think that the material used for the red does the drawing justice. (Was it crayon that was used? Maybe marker?) Water color would be preferable, but I know how that can wrinkle the paper…hmmm…. Maybe just a color pencil? Aside from coloring with a lighter touch (advice applicable for crayon, not so much for marker) I’m not sure how else to go about it. One more note. The skirt is rather flat when compared with the other fabrics in the drawing. It doesn’t need anything too extreme. Just a little upward motion would help to add a bit more harmony!

Anywhoo! I think that’s all I have to say ;) I hope that it’s helpful. I’m feeling inspired now! Keep on drawing my friend ^.^

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http://ask-this-blackrockshooter.tumblr.com/

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curlycupgumweed

6 years ago

Embroidery stitch tutorial by Pam Ash Designs

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so cool tutorial stitch embroidery needle point It fills me with passion! I wanna do some embroidery! But I haven't a clue what to do! I'm sure I'll figure it out!

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curlycupgumweed

11 years ago

Woah

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drawing animation woah

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curlycupgumweed

11 years ago

3 Princess Tutu Headcannons

Mytho Used to be Blonde

In episode 5 we see a picture of an old man telling a boy (that we can assume to be Mytho because the print on the previous page mentions "the Prince" talking to an old man) about Princess Tutu. In the picture, the boy's hair is colored a faint yellow.

Also, if we look at Mythos eyebrows (yes, I am referencing his eyebrows) we can see that they appear to be a very pale brown.

Mytho 's hair was probably blonde ( maybe turned sandy brown as he grew up), and then after fighting decades with the raven, his hair turned white from old age. even though he never grew older in any other way.

Drosselmeyer Used to be Married to a Ballerina

Drosselmeyer had children; therefore, we'll assume that he was married. His wife died before him, and he was devastated. To help cope with the sadness, he started writing the "Prinz und Raben" and had used ballet in the story to honor her.

Duck is a Duckling and Not Native to Germany

Most (if not all) ducks, that start off yellow, later lose their downy feathers and grow new ones with different colors. Duck probably still has her downy and is therefore still quite young ( either that or it's an artistic choice.)

Also, no duck's native to Germany have pure yellow feathers as ducklings. (that I could find) Likely, Duck was brought in by a foreign family and lost. This would also explain her lack of knowledge of the towns history, and her surprise at seeing Mr. Cat. If she had grown up outside of Kinkan Town, she would not be used to the world warping weirdness of Drosselmeyer's powers.

Anywhoosies, I hope you like my headcanons and a good day everyone!

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headcanons duck princess tutu ahiru Mytho Mythos Drosselmeyer

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curlycupgumweed

5 years ago

Ahiru loves pineapple on pizza and she could never prepare herself for the look of utter disgust on Fakir’s face when he learns this fact

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duck princess tutu ahiru rue pineapple pizza It's okay Ahiru I'm sure Mytho likes it too (I like it too!)

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curlycupgumweed

9 years ago

OH my gosh. I adore Fantom-stein so much

Chapter 2: Pages 5 and 6

“Like moths to a flame…”

Boom, a two page update! Kind of a pivotal moment for our little warrior princess and the musical dungeon slob…

@ thedrawingduke on twitter + Instagram + Facebook

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phantom of the opera frankenstein ahhhhhh poto Eric its so cool christine the creature I can't wait to see where it goes and inspiring too

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curlycupgumweed

9 years ago

This is a little dumb, but I really enjoy how cute your Raoul is. Growing up, I was the only person in my family with curly hair and I hated it, so it's nice to see a cute fluff-head. It puts a nice spin on my self-image and instead of thinking, "oh, I hate my hair why is it so difficult why can't it be smooth and silky straight like my parent's and siblings' hair" now I'm like "aww my hair is so fluffy like Raoul's <3" which is a little dorky but you take what you can get in life hahaha.

Awwwwwwww I am so glad you feel that way anon! Curly hair is cool! Don’t ever let it getcha down!