An Incomplete American Story

by Anita Flynn

On Friday, January 6, 2017, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at her last White House event. She and her husband, President Barack Obama, and their family soon will be leaving the place they called home for the past eight years to face new challenges and opportunities and I wish them well. Regardless of the politics, the role of President and First Lady is one of overwhelming responsibility.

Mrs. Obama urged our young people to add their voice to the national conversation and well they should. However, I was somewhat disheartened by a passage in her speech that I feel is not truly indicative of reality in the United States: “To the young people out there, do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter or like you don’t have a place in our American story, because you do,” Mrs. Obama said. “And you have a right to be exactly who you are.”

Unfortunately, the actions of our U.S. Supreme Court do not mirror Mrs. Obama’s hopes for all the youth of our country. Since 1973 Roe vs. Wade ensured that all children, in fact, do not necessarily matter and they do not necessarily have a place in our American story. And as far as having a right to be exactly who you are? Every child’s right to that opportunity is trumped by every mother’s right to be exactly who she is.

So while it was a gracious and heartfelt thought, our actions as a country belie the belief that we all have a right to be exactly who we are. Others are actually legally permitted to make choices as to who lives and who dies and the vulnerable victims just disappear from the thread of our American story. Who knows what role they might have played in the making of this country? As great a nation as this is, have you ever contemplated how much greater it might have been had the talents and gifts of the millions of aborted children been able to develop and thrive? The numbers are staggering as to how much love, passion, knowledge, creativity, joy and yes, maybe even sorrow, we have failed to experience in the name of exercising “our” freedom while totally inhibiting the freedom of another.

And while the sentiments spoken by Mrs. Obama are indeed inspiring ones, let us take a moment to remember that millions of our sisters and brothers in this great nation of ours were not afforded the opportunity to make a difference. I would only ask that their place in the American story be remembered as the rest of us drink from the cup of empowerment.

Anita Flynn resides in Philadelphia, PA and has written for Demand Media (Business & Finance) and Examiner.com