Today’s Advent Story: An Unwed Teenage Mother to Be
I THINK SHE WAS ON THE LEVEL
Today I decided to do some of my “running around shopping” and get it over with. Unfortunately I had to go to Wallyworld. I was going to do it tomorrow, but decided at the last minute to get it done.
Funny how those things work.
As I was pushing my very heavy cart (50 lbs of cat food) to the Durango, I heard this person call out, then watched as she walked away from me. I spoke to her.
She explained that she needed help and was in town checking on her grandmother who had been hospitalized. I immediately clicked into my “what kind of help” can I get for her mode.
Her name was Cassie. I would say she was anywhere from 17 to 19 years old and 5 months pregnant. The father was history. When the call came about her grandmother, she grabbed a few things and drove up from El Paso, not realizing she would run out of money.
I know, you are thinking I am a total push-over. When I worked at our local Episcopal church, I was known as the biggest soft-touch in town. Ruidoso is a nice place to live if you can afford it, but if you are not independently wealthy, the town is a trap. I won’t go into the sub-standard wage scale that exists here, the extremely high cost of real estate, and the fact that basically with a few exceptions no one gives a %$@# what happens to people who need help, our church being one of those exceptions, I am pleased to say.
The lack of support for the needy in this community is yet another story. We have a wonderful food bank. There is an excellent system set up for battered women. There is help for endangered children. But, there are times when a person who is simply a little down on their luck can have a difficult time getting help. I think it’s all about the gambling and the fact that it is difficult to garner sympathy for some jerk who has blown everything at the track or on the slots.
Cassie’s tale was no exception. All she needed was enough money to buy gas to get back to El Paso so she could go to work this evening. I asked if she had checked with any of the local churches. At first, I was afraid she needed a place to stay. I was doing a mental check-list of people to call, etc. and wondered where Deacon Laurie was in case I needed her. Cassie told me that she’d checked with one of the churches. They refused to help her. I knew if she’d checked at Holy Mount, someone would have scrounged up some cash for her. (I will not tell which church refused to help her).
FYI – Deacon Laurie is a bigger soft-touch than I am, and that’s saying a heck of a lot, trust me.
For some reason I believed her tale, especially when she reached the part that her mother was on the way into town from Austin, to take care of the grandmother. Evidently her mother was furious with her for getting pregnant. Cassie would rather beg for cash in the Walmart parking lot than face the wrath of her mother.
That part of the story made a lot of sense. Naturally I gave her twenty bucks. I asked if she knew Christ. She said she did. I asked if she was going to church. Naturally she said she was not. I suggested St. Clement’s in El Paso, and told her to go ask if they could help her, and told her to tell them I once worked for Fr. Ron. (Suggesting that he would have helped her in a minute, which he would have done – then hauled her in to be baptized – it’s an Episcopalian thing).
Cassie asked me to pray for she and her baby. I am asking the same thing from you. From what I gather the baby is due in April.
The poor child needs to put the baby up for adoption.
At least she did not have an abortion.
This leads to another thing. If these girls are going to “do the right thing” and not murder their babies, don’t you think they need some help.
If abortion is on its way “out” as an option, why not make the various and sundry forms of birth control easily and cheaply available? Sure, my idea is “just say no”, but these kids aren’t going to do that. Why should they? While there are exceptions, let’s fact the fact that most kids’ parents have the morals of a bunch of barn yard animals. I don’t think they qualify as good examples, much of the time.
Seriously, if these kids are going to take the option of abortion off the table, let’s hand out free or very cheap birth control what-ever to them. Let’s also step in and help them find good adoptive homes for their babies.
Cassie truly loves her baby. I think she wants to do the best thing for it. In many ways there is a strange sort of honor watching these kids soldier through. But – it’s not the best thing for the baby.
What is wrong with popularizing adoption?
I realized I was dealing with the classic Christmas story. An unwed teenage mother was stranded and needed cash. One of the local churches refused to help her. I made sure she knew the Episcopalians would have been much nicer.
If she was conning me – that’s her problem, not mine.
FYI, I did email a friend who goes to St. Clements and asked if he would check to see if Cassie went for help.
