Food for Thought From a Fortune Cookie

by Theresa Stephenson

You can learn the simplest of lessons in the strangest of places. Last night, I learned a lesson while I was enjoying some Chinese take-out with friends. After we had satisfied our appetites, we opened our fortune cookies. Normally, I don’t place any trust in the messages inside fortune cookies, and I still don’t, but when I opened mine I was struck by the words:

“Stand up for what you believe in even if it’s not popular.”

Let’s face it: the pro-life message isn’t popular. As a pro-life club, we face persecution on campus. We have a hard job – the general reaction of the public is to ignore abortion. And most people will continue to ignore abortion as long as abortion ignores them. But averting our eyes from injustice does not make it go away. That means that our job is to expose the tragedy: to educate students about the 300 innocent lives that are ended by abortion every day in Canada.

This message is what makes us seem so offensive. By forcing people to realize this tragedy, we risk being mocked and ostracized. But it has to get worse before it gets better, or so the saying goes. So, as we start a new school year, let’s be prepared. Let’s stand together with the rest of the pro-life community to make abortion unthinkable. Let’s extend a compassionate and loving hand to the women and men who have been hurt by abortion. Let’s fight the good fight with earnestness and integrity.

No matter how hard the persecution gets, let’s continue to share our message: proclaiming, celebrating, and defending the dignity of all human life from conception until natural death.