About three years ago I was waiting at the photo department of Sears to obtain the annual Christmas picture I have promised to my children's grandparents. I struck up a conversation with a woman who seemed as desperate for distractions as I was. She was picing up photos of her grandson, an adorable toddler of about eighteen months. In her life, apparently, there was little room for his. The only real happiness is found in opening our hearts to others, in that gift of self which enriches both the one who receives and the one who gives.
Every human being is a gift, and every one has value.
Nor should we lose sight of the anguish of those couples who long to welcome a child of their own and find that other remedies have not availed. A true and proper right to a child would be contrary to the child's dignity and nature. The child is not an object to which one has a right, nor can he be considered an object of ownership. A mother welcomes and carries in herself another human being, enabling it to grow inside her, giving it room, respecting it in its otherness. We must break out of this destructive spiral by affirming both the value of children and the value of motherhood.