When A Man Says “I Made A Mistake”

January 20, 2008

When a man says “I Made A Mistake”, not every one reacts to his statement in the same way. Some of us understand that it takes a mature man to face his past and admit that not everything he did was right. Some of us may look at this man as one who attempts to provoke a contemptuous sorrow for his misery or distress- some one who looks for pity. There are also some who will see in such a statement a hidden political agenda. Ms. Sarah Blustain may be an epitome of the latter two category of people, which is eloquently displayed in her latest writing at The Nation:

Pity the Man: The antiabortion movement has found a new face to exploit for political gain. And it’s male.
By Sarah Blustain

Pity the man who conceived four babies with four women and suffered anxiety attacks and nightmares after all four, with his consent, were aborted. Pity the man who saw his soon-to-be-born baby on an ultrasound and instantly came to believe that he “had killed two of my own kids” through abortion. Pity the man who abused alcohol after his girlfriend aborted. Pity the man who suffered a nervous breakdown, depression, psychosis and nearly suicide after his girlfriend had an abortion despite his pleas…

Now we understand. Pity the man.

The four pages of somewhat angry criticism of pro-life movement by Ms. Blustain due to hit the stands this Monday on the pages of The Nation, but you can read her article online.

Evidently we both have attended the same conference in San Francisco- Reclaiming Fatherhood. However I tend to disagree with everything that Ms. Blustain had written in her latest article.

The men who took stand in front of few hundreds of people they have never seen in their lives, are truly courageous individuals who deserve admiration and respect but not pity. They told their stories without hype and exaggeration. They had the strength to acknowledge that abortion was their worst mistake. They had the wisdom to tell us that abortion was their ultimate delusion. They opened their hearts to show us that abortion was their biggest loss.

Every man who spoke in front of us reminded me of the Prodigal Son from the well known Jesus’ parable. In that parable, the Prodigal Son who found the courage to admit his mistake is not a hero. The true hero of that parable is the loving and forgiving Father.

Although these men took the stage and one by one acknowledged their mistakes, they themselves will tell you that they are not the heroes. They will tell you that the true hero in their story is the loving and forgiving God.

Those who would like to put a political spin on the issue are probably would love this to be just that a “political issue”. But it is not. The pain of abortion is not an illusion. It is real. The effect that abortion has on people’s lives is not imaginary, it is also real and often devastating. And men are not immune to neither.

I have already posted once in the past the video by Flipside. I think it is fitting to include it in this post as well. His song is the song of millions of men around the world.