Have you ever felt like you were just a number? As in if something were to happen to you tomorrow that nobody would care? Have you ever felt like you were not valued?
If you answered yes to any of these questions I want you to know you are not alone and I understand how much it can hurt to be seen as just a number.
I actually had a personal experience of being seen as just a number myself. A number of years ago I had a job in a call centre (anyone who has worked in one will know they are not the best jobs) working in this field can be quite stressful and the turnover of staff is often quite high in these types of jobs due to a very high demand to reach targets; as you can imagine this makes it difficult for people to stay in this job-role long-term.
I must admit I wasn’t my best in this role as I struggled to hit the hard targets they had; my calls were often long too which meant I wasn’t getting enough sale calls through.
As a result (after only being in the role a few months) one morning I was informed by my line manager that I would most likely be let go from the role. (This was a bit of a shock but also a relief at the same time as I wasn’t enjoying it).
After being told this news, I decided it would be better for me to resign rather than allow them to terminate my contract as I didn’t want a dismissal on my record. My line manager was actually glad I asked to resign as he didn’t want to dismiss me, he was kind. So I sent my resignation letter by email that morning and I was told that could be my last day at work and I wouldn’t need to give any notice.
About an hour or two later I was trying to use my pass to access the floor I worked on (as I was on my way back to my desk after having a bathroom break) however I was unable access the floor, I was stuck outside on the corridor outside the bathroom as my pass wasn’t working, It was then I realised I had been locked out of the department and because of this I had to ask one of the cleaners to let me in with her pass.
It was quite a shock to know that even before dinner-time they had forgotten all about me and decided to immediately disable my access instead of waiting till the end of the day when I finished my shift at 5pm. Their actions made me realise they didn’t value me or the contribution I made to the company, I was just a number to them nothing more nothing less.
Although I was disappointed by my employer’s actions, I knew my experience was small In comparison to some other people’s stories of feeling devalued, and thankfully this was something I was able to get over and I didn’t allow this experience to hinder my life.
"I was just a number to them nothing more nothing less"
Although my experience was unpleasant, I know for some there is no coming back from being deleted, their lives are completely removed from the picture - out of sight out of mind.
If you have ever experienced being treated like you are just a number, I want you to think about that experience and how it made you feel - Did it make you feel good? Did it make you feel devalued?
However it made you feel, hopefully you were able to move on and were not permanently affected by it.
What Do You Value in Life?
Now here’s where it gets a bit more challenging - if I was to ask you what do you value or what does today’s society value I bet your answers would differ. And the reason why they would differ is because everyone puts value on different things for different reasons.
By no means am I here to tell you how much value you ought to put on things or people, however we cannot ignore the fact that so many lives (unborn babies lives) have become a number since abortion was made legal in the UK in 1967.
The legalisation of abortion has led to a baby’s life only being valued if they are wanted.
Consequently, a baby’s humanity has become devalued because society tells us we can pick and choose whether our baby’s life is valuable or not.
The majority of the time this decision is made based on circumstances rather than the risk to the mother’s life - which is one of the main arguments that led to abortion being made legal in the first place.
Did you know that 97% of abortions are for convenience?
As human beings ourselves don’t you think we should value all life no matter how big or small; young or old?
One of the main arguments between the pro-life and pro-choice groups is trying to decide when human life becomes valuable - is it inside or outside of the womb?
Your own response to this question depends on whether you think the baby’s life is only viable if it can survive outside the mother’s womb.
The truth is if you read between the lines then you will see that what we are really saying is, sometimes the baby’s life matters inside the womb and sometimes it doesn’t.
If only we could see that the intrinsic value for life is an all or nothing thing, if one life has value, we all have value there is no in-between.
We cannot just pick and choose the value of something just because we have autonomy.
One thing about me is I am generally interested in people, I love people; I like getting to know people and I will literally talk to anyone - I definitely consider myself as a people person and many people who know me can attest to this. I also believe that because I have so much love for people, this is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about protecting the lives of the unborn.
These are the 2018 Abortion Statistics in the United Kingdom:
Abortions in England: 191,555
Abortions in Wales: 9,053
Abortions in Scotland: 13,286
Abortions in Northern Ireland: 12 (2017-18)
Non UK Residents who had Abortions in the UK: 4,687
Abortion rate was highest for those age: 21
Rate of abortion for single women: 81%
Total Number of UK Abortions: 218,593
Only two weeks ago the abortion figures for England and Wales were released for 2019 and sadly but unsurprisingly they had gone up.
Total number of abortions in England & Wales (2019): 209,519
(I was unable to find the 2019 abortion figures for Scotland or Northern Ireland, so this figure of 209,519 is only two countries of the UK when the rest of the figures are released we will let you know).
The 27th October 1967 was the day abortion was legalised in our nation, but the law didn’t come into effect until 27th April 1968 since that day just over 52 years have passed and the total count of legal abortions performed in the UK is over 9,000,000 lives.
66.65 million is the current population of the UK so when you think about it just over 14% of the population is missing. These people never got the same opportunity everybody else has; that opportunity is life outside the womb. Life is an amazing opportunity we can all do something wonderful with it, the choice is yours.
Although this blog post discusses numbers, I want you to keep in mind when you look at these numbers that each of these numbers represents not just one life but the lives connected to it.
Every Life Lost had a Purpose
As I said earlier these aren’t just numbers, it’s not just data this is human lives, not “biological tissue” “blobs” “blood cells” but human lives. These babies could have grown up to be anything from teachers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, pastors, scientists, actors, actresses, singers, dancers, inventors the list goes on - they could’ve had the opportunity to become whoever they wanted to be If they’d worked hard and followed their dreams.
These valuable men and women could have done so much and been a blessing to many people, yet they never got that chance or that opportunity.
There’s a quote I came across recently by a man name Andy Stanley and it really got me thinking about how much we don’t know about our future and the great plans God has for us and our children and the generations connected to us (If you have heard the viral worship song ‘The Blessing’ then you will know this song is a declaration for our future generations)
The quote said “Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise” how powerful is that?!
What would life look like if more of us knew that our greatest blessing could be someone we raise and not something that we necessarily do with our own gifts and talents?
Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise ~ Andy Stanley
I also wonder how this “knowing” would influence the choices we make? Perhaps it would make us think less of ourselves and more about God’s purpose for creation.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you: I ordained you a prophet to the nations - Jeremiah 1:5
In actuality the choice we think will hinder our life could turn out to be the choice that has the power to change the world, it may sound crazy but it’s possible! This is the chance we take when deciding on our own future……
Are you willing to take that chance?
Love & Blessings
Choose Life Ministries
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Reference for Statistics
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