I’ve been in Jos for like 5 days now and I have a lot to say.
Firstly, I never knew a people could be this nice and kind and respectful.
I almost felt sick because I never knew people could still be like that.
Lagos has fried my brain. People call you Sir while offering every service to you.
From the suya guy to the super market attendant to the local restaurant to every single person.
I’ve never seen this before in my life. In Lagos, the way I know the food in a restaurant would be good is if the woman is rude.
I never trust the food of a polite food seller in Lagos.
But I’m here where everyone treats you with respect.
Then things are cheaper. The uber that will normally cost 10 million naira here in Lagos is 2,500 here.
I’ve never seen life lived like this before. I see clear road everywhere.
I’m not scared of holding my phone carelessly.
Hotel is cheap with free WiFi. Omo. Jos na place.
A man ended his unborn son this week because the boy had Down syndrome. Thousands of strangers called him brave.
There is nothing new under the sun. Rome left its weak infants on the hill to die while rich women carried pampered lapdogs through the streets. We did not get kinder. We just moved the hill onto a screen and added applause.
I wrote about it today. About that, and about my grandson Blake. Sixteen pounds, just off oxygen, and the reason three generations of my family are stronger than they have ever been.
The weak are not the curse. The heart that refuses them is.
Read it. Then send it to a father who needs to hear it.
https://t.co/uCGBPBoHFd
💯 right. The El-Salvador President just told the world why terrorism is thriving in a country like Nigeria 🇳🇬. Just listen to his submission… something we all know but don’t want to address.
I'm really not enjoying the way people are talking about disabled children and I'm going to remind you that your perfectly healthy kid could become disabled at any moment, literally overnight, and no amount of NIPTs or screenings could've predicted it, and then what will you do?
“Grieving the LOSS”??
My God. You two didn’t suffer a miscarriage or a stillbirth like millions of couples do every year. You CHOSE to abort your baby. And then you CHOSE to announce it publicly. YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM. This is narcissism at its finest. 💔
‼️MY REACTION TO @McJuggerNuggets TURNING HIS ABORTION DECISION INTO CONTENT:
The one thing missing from the discussion was the person.
The child.
The human being at the center of it all.
And I couldn't stop thinking about something.
What would a person with Down syndrome think reading that tweet?
Having children is one of the most selfless acts a human being can undertake.
You are voluntarily accepting uncertainty.
The entire journey of parenthood is an exercise in loving someone whose future you cannot control.
That's the deal.
But somewhere along the way we've started treating children like consumer products.
We ask whether the child fits our plans.
Whether the child matches our expectations.
Whether the child will provide the experience we envisioned.
And when a diagnosis arrives that changes those expectations, the conversation often becomes about whether the child still meets the standard.
That isn't parenthood.
That's consumerism.
And then there is one final thing I can't shake.
The need to announce it.
Not to close friends.
Not to family.
To the entire world.
To a bunch of strangers online.
Maybe that's the part that disturbs me most.
Because we've entered a strange moment in our culture.
Every private experience must become content.
Every tragedy becomes a post.
Every intimate decision becomes engagement.
Every deeply personal moment becomes public consumption.
And I found myself wondering:
Was today the day that aborting your child became content?
As Christians, we believe every person is made in the image of God.
Every person.
Join me tonight in praying for both this couple, and the sweet soul that they sent to Heaven way too early.
In a world that destroys children with Down syndrome, listen to this brave girl:
“You can try to kill off everyone with Down syndrome by using abortion, but you won’t be any closer to a perfect society. You will just be closer to a cruel, heartless one."
Charlotte Helene Fien speaks before the United Nations