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| August 7, 2008 |
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‘Thanks, Mom, for choosing life’Teens taking part in annual essay contest share personal stories to promote pro-life views. Read the students' compelling essays here: MIAMI | One teen thanks a mom for “making the right decision” while facing “the toughest obstacle of your life.” Another thanks two birth mothers for allowing their baby girls to live and ultimately become sisters by adoption. Those powerful stories, along with reflections on the consequences of abortion and a young girl’s pledge to remain chaste until marriage, represent the five winning essays in the annual contest sponsored by the archdiocese’s respect life office. “It gives us great hope to see young people so conscious of the sacredness of human life from the very moment of conception, and their openness to living chaste lives,” said Joan Crown, director of respect life, in a letter addressed to the principals of the 21 Catholic schools whose students submitted essays for the contest. Jordan Pflum, an eighth-grader at St. Gregory School in Plantation, was selected as the winner — and given $100 in prize money — based on her essay, “Choice.” In it, Jordan tells of the tough decision faced by a teenager in high school. “A small lapse of judgment is all it took to shake your world. You just got caught up in the moment. Did you really love him? You probably cannot even answer that question.” Jordan ended her essay by thanking the woman “for making the right decision. You are the reason I breathe. You are the reason I think. You are the reason I am. My blessed mommy, you have chosen the road of greatness. I am forever grateful for the life you gave me.” “I thought long and hard when I was writing this essay,” Jordan told the Florida Catholic. “Young girls have so much pressure today. I thought it would be neat to talk about a girl who made some mistakes, but still chose the path of Jesus. It would be my wish that I could help someone out there choose Jesus when facing a difficult choice.” Hunter Norris, an eighth-grader at St. Lawrence School in North Miami Beach, won second place and $50 — for the second year in a row — with her essay, “The Chastity Challenge.” “Although I am only 13,” Hunter wrote, “I am already deeply aware that I am at a fork in the road of life and that I can either walk in the way of Our Lord, which leads to happiness, fulfillment and eternal life, or I can choose to travel the path that leads to grief and damnation. The choice is mine and mine alone, but it is not a difficult one because Christ is showing me the way and strengthening me each day in my determination to remain pure and chaste for my husband and children. “Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making it easy for me to commit to being chaste until marriage,” Hunter concluded, “and help other girls my age to know that you are ever-present in their lives, especially during moments of weakness and temptation. Amen.” Madison Bailey, an eighth-grader at St. Coleman School in Pompano Beach, won one of three honorable mentions for writing about “how two people’s decisions to respect life impacted my life.” Madison thanks her birth mother, Bridget, for deciding to put her up for adoption; and she thanks her sister’s birth mother, Casey, for walking out of an abortion clinic at the last minute. “When I was little all I wanted was a little sister,” Madison wrote. “My mom bought me little dolls and I always named them Morgan. When our family adopted another baby, I got to name her Morgan. Now I have everything I have ever wanted and it’s all because of the choice (Casey) made.” The other honorable mentions went to: • Brenna Grant, an eighth-grader at St. Bartholomew School in Miramar, whose essay, “In the perspective of a baby,” began with the question, “If you were a baby in your mother’s womb, how would you feel about dying before birth?” • Kelsey Quigley, a seventh-grader at Little Flower School in Coral Gables, whose essay, “Unborn Infants,” made the point that “abortion is murder that deprives women of freedom, and children of life. … (T)he freedom she seeks cannot be gained by aborting her child.” The respect life essay contest takes place each fall, with entries due Oct. 31. It is open to students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The two winning essays were read on Radio Peace 1040 AM Dec. 19. All five essays are posted on the archdiocesan Web site, www.miamiarch.org.
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