Make Room for Baby
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Forget about "The Apprentice," "Survivor" and "The Bachelor." My favorite new reality shows are the remarkable before-and-after programs, which keep me glued to the set with their dramatic transformations in 22 minutes of quality entertainment.
I revel in TLC's "While You Were Out," Style Network's "Guess Who's Coming to Decorate?" and Discovery Health Channel's "Plastic Surgery: Before & After." I guess I'm always living vicariously through the people on TV, wishing someone would overhaul my living room or my nose or both.
One of the newer additions to the TV fixer-upper lineup is "Make Room for Baby." The premise is cute: While Mom's hard at work in the hospital delivering her new baby, a team is hard at work at the house creating a dream nursery in less than 48 hours.
No matter how hard the designers and carpenters have worked to create their over-the-top beach theme, complete with seagull sound effects and colorful surfboards bolted to the wall, nothing is official until safety inspector Debra Holtzman approves.
For example, Holtzman insists that you:
* Ensure the distance between crib slats is 23/8 inches or less to avoid entrapment.
* Remove all fluffy bedding including pillows, bumper pads and stuffed toys to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and suffocation.
* Place the baby's mobile high above the crib to reduce the risk of strangulation.
* Purchase safety devices like smoke alarms, window guards and safety covers over all electrical outlets.
Clearly, making room for baby means doing everything in our power to ensure the child's safety and well-being.
What a society we live in.
On the one hand, we celebrate children as gifts from God through TV shows dedicated to protecting babies from suffocation, strangulation and electrocution.
Yet we also choose to hire people to kill 4,000 little ones daily in America. That's 1.46 million abortions a year, or 45 million since the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision. More people have died through abortion in this country than in all of the American wars combined.
That's why thousands of Christians will participate in the annual San Antonio Life Chain at 2 p.m. Oct. 3. They will silently hold signs that say "Abortion Kills Children," "Jesus Forgives and Heals" and "Adoption:
The Loving Option."
Each church that signs up this month will stand along San Pedro Avenue with its pastor at a predesignated spot. A similar thing will happen in 900 cities that day, with 1 million Christians expected to take a stand for the sanctity of life.
But it's not enough to say abortion is wrong. We need to offer help in a practical way to San Antonio women who face crisis pregnancies. Therefore, each Life Chain participant is being asked to bring a packet of diapers,
which will be donated to one of six local pregnancy support centers.
I think it's time we truly "made room for baby" in San Antonio, don't you?
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