Personally, I was disappointed with the Tim Tebow ads aired during the SuperBowl yesterday. Since their intended anti-abortion message had already become so public, I was dismayed that all we heard from Pam Tebow during the ads themselves was a curious circumlocution about how she "almost lost" her son. Not a whisper of the "A word", or of the dramatic story of the choice for life that she made for her son.
Yes, if you went to Focus on the Family's website and listened to the entire 7-minute video interview with the Tebows, right at the end came some very clear, strong statements, and the direct plea "please don't kill your baby".
But how many of those who watched the ads dug that far to hear that message?
And it was such a simple, straightforward story: they told me to abort my baby because I took some drugs that might have caused severe birth defects. I didn't. Instead of a burden, I -- and the nation -- got an exceptional quarterback and a fine person. That story, told simply and shortly, had the power to change anyone's heart, regardless of their faith or lack of it.
A great opportunity was missed.
And now that an "opinion" ad has been allowed to air during the SuperBowl, look for the pro-abortion lobby to submit their own ads in abundance next year.
In 1867, Matthew Arnold wrote "Dover Beach", a haunting poem evoking the "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" of the Sea of Faith. As a boomer who finished Catholic elementary school in 1964 and then watched my Church falter, I've found the roar all too audible. So here I wait, listening for the whispers of that Sea's invincible return.
