Thursday, July 19, 2007

"The Cider House Rules" Commentary

I just watched The Cider House Rules. This move was made a few years back. Stars Tobey Maguire, Michael Caine, Charleze Theoren, and a few others.

It's about an orphanage where Caine is a doctor and head guy (along with his wife and another nurse). He sees Maguire as his son and teaches him everything he knows. Maguire is reluctant to take over his position and goes off by himself for a while. There are quite a number of themes that run throughout this movie (I never want to strip a movie down to one issue). One of the main ones is that of abortion.

Now in the past year or two, I have changed my opinion on a lot of things. I would probably consider myself more of a pacifist now. I would be less harsh on homosexuals in this country than most mid-western, conservative Christians. And I would consider other issues besides the biggies (abortion, homosexuality, war, etc.) that the conservative side seems to focus solely on.

With all that said, I can't see any other way on abortion. Regardless of the circumstances, the possible crummy life of the child, or whatever else a pro-choice advocates would give, I can't see how the ending of someone's life could ever be justified. Cider House does a decent job of creating a situation where an abortion seems necessary and OK... but it's not. The baby is still a person. Correcting one wrong with another one is never OK.

The movie didn't necessarily push this too much but the quality of life for the baby is often used as an argument for abortion. To me, using this logic means we should eliminate practically every third world country, every person with a handicapp or disabilitation, or for that matter, old people. All these people are in dire situations in which there will not be a lot of happiness. Life should still be given a chance.

OK, I'm done.
I'm not big on writing opinion-esque blogs that most people (who might read my blog) will agree with but I thought it good to get my thoughts down. If you have any commentary or objections or whatever... comment.

G'night.

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