My Email to DM Register’s Rekha Basu

In case you don’t know,  Rekha Basu writes opinion articles for the liberal biased Des Moines Register.  She is as far from my world-view as you can probably get and while she is just exercising her First Amendment rights, she recently has opened her mouth about a subject that is personal to both of us.  I thought I would let her know my side of it.  I originally planned this to be a letter to the editor but then reality set in that this piece of trash newspaper would never print it.  Instead, I thought I would email her directly so she had something to put in her trash bin today.

Dear Ms. Basu,

I am writing you mainly in response to your opinion pieces and various interviews concerning President Obama lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research. I realize that this was awhile back but it has taken me some time to get this response together because it is a highly emotional issue for me, however, I am glad that I have waited this long to give my opinion because the wait has put some things in perspective for me.

Since the time the ban has been overturned, the Iowa Supreme Court has tried to implement a “law” allowing same-sex marriage. What is now blatantly apparent to me is that the people on your side of the debate are only interested in tolerance, inclusion, and equal rights if other people agree with you. I also have come to the conclusion that you have no respect for historical foundations, scientific facts, or the well-being of our future generations. You only care about the here and now and what are the hot button topics for your side to “win” at the expense of other peoples’ lives and well-being, and sometimes you are hurting the very people you say you are fighting for. Do you really think glorifying the homosexual lifestyle will finally make them “happy?”

While we are on the opposite sides when it comes to our world-views, we do have only one thing in common. Your husband was a victim of Lou Gehrig’s disease and so was my father. He did not get to see my children born nor did he even get to walk me down the aisle of my own wedding. He attended the wedding but had to be transported there in an ambulance and sit in the front of the church bound by his wheelchair and ventilator. I am telling you this just so you and everyone else knows that not all of us who have had a loved one suffer from a disease is willing to kill babies at the very beginning of their lives just for one shred of hope that there may be a cure. (By the way, my mother passed away from Alzheimer’s disease; another illness that embryonic stem cells supposedly could cure.)

I know that the argument is that these babies would be disposed of anyway, but then what do you suggest we do when we run out of them? That is when we will begin to create life to destroy life. The other argument is that these are not babies, however, at the moment of conception these lump of cells that make up a child have their own genetic blue print. I know that it doesn’t “look” like a baby but does a baby look like a teenager and does a teenager look like a senior? Have you ever thought that the human species at that stage of life looks just like they are supposed to look?

Even though I am 100% certain that my parents are alive in their eternal home with Jesus and are happier there than they ever could be here on earth, the selfish side of me still would love to have both of them back and cured. But if finding this cure involves killing someone else then it is as ethical as murdering a stranger on the street to get his lungs if someone needed a lung transplant. I know that there are legal ways to get an organ donation but I also know of someone who has died waiting for a donor. Do you?

Both of my parents fought their illnesses with every ounce of strength that they had because they cherished life so much and through that they taught me to cherish life. What legacy are you teaching your children?