Survivors’ tale

Anyone born after January 22, 1973 is a survivor, of a culture saturated with the abortion mentality. They know that…

On a radio show the other day, while I was on for the hour doing news analysis, the host and I were talking about abortion law and where it may be headed, calls poured in from listeners, mainly about the increasing power of pro-abortion politicians. One gentleman called in to express gratitude that we were talking about the particular subject we were on, because he had personally been impacted….no, devastated….by the prospect of abortion. He was conceived out of wedlock back in the late sixties, and with voice breaking, told of his grandfather probably saving his life by insisting that his mother not come home unless she had the baby with her.

He was clearly traumatized, and he’s now an adult, roughly the age of Barack Obama.

Jesse Jackson used to be pro-life, and though he gave many reasons relating to the Gospel and human rights, he said it’s also personal for him, because he was born out of wedlock. What happened to turn Jackson and others to support abortion later is between them and their God. But for Jackson, and Obama, it’s particularly baffling how they either miss or disregard the connection between abortion and slavery.

And the holocaust, actually, as some young people are pointing out in a new film showing how interconnected these human rights violations really are. And clearly so.

It’s brilliant in its simplicity and clarity. Even in the title: Volition.

Volition places its central character, who goes unnamed, in the historical contexts of what the filmmakers clearly believe to be three of the greatest human rights violations in history: the holocaust, slavery, and abortion. In each the protagonist is placed in a position of some authority, with the promise of more to come: in the first, we find him in the role of a Nazi who is being considered for a promotion; in the second, a respected American physician who has travelled to Africa and studied the blacks; and in the third, a promising medical student on scholarship whose girlfriend is pregnant.

The premise is as clever and well-executed as it is effective. It purpose is clear: by placing the same figure, presumably with the same sort of upbringing, and the same genetic and temperamental predispositions, into the crucible of extreme historical times that demand a response, we may observe his choices, or, in other words, we may try his “volition.” 

As the synopsis of the film states, “Throughout history, men have been faced with difficult choices in a world that makes it easy for them to conform. This film explores the hope that lies behind every decision made in the face of adversity; the hope that is buried in the heart of those that look beyond themselves and see something bigger worth fighting for.”

It’s about time.