I Grieve An Asterisked Life

Today I grieve over a life that did not reach its true potential. Today I grieve over a life that will forever have an asterisk associated with it.

It was a life that chose not to speak with the absolute conviction of the Divine Truths that had been revealed to it through its heritage, but instead chose to attenuate the voice of a secular confusion at the altar of man-made power.

It was a life that could have been a Profile in Courage by delivering his Party of millions to a culture of setting a place at the table for even the most defenseless members of our human family but in its stead chose to support, entrench and perpetuate the destruction of the innocent as part of his Party's platform.

It was a life that lovingly and profoundly penned in 1971:

"... it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized—the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old.

...When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."

It was a life that after accepting this written truth, then turned from it.

It was a life that will forever will be known as a tireless worker on behalf of the poor and the disadvantaged, but in the same breath will always have a scarlet asterisk anchored to it. The asterisk will forever acknowledge that this life was politically selective in his care towards society's most downtrodden when they were placed before him - - framed by his meditated, complete abandonment of the unborn.

I grieve this asterisk mostly today and the true 'Lion of the Senate' that could have been.