The Gift of Life

Donum Vitae gets it right, as Michelle Arnold points out in this poignant post on lessons of artificial insemination.

I suppose that Cheyenne is lucky that her mother supposed her father had been thoroughly "vetted". Otherwise she might have fallen under the scythe of that other great eugenic technology, which has already decimated generations.

My prayer is that Michelle Jorgenson benefits greatly from the unique gift of her daughter, and comes to prize this gift for the priceless treasure that it is. I am finally beginning to learn so much from my daughter, who has a developmental disability. In some way I can never explain, but only thank God for, she is perfect--for herself, and for me, as a daughter. I only hope that I can give her half of what she has already given to me.

There is something in this post that really struck me with just how sad our efforts to perfect and orchestrate our children really are, and how little we appreciate the mystery and awesomeness of the gift of life.