For the last year, I've noticed "pro-life" messages coming from the oddest places. Even before Juno, there were 20 something movies like "Knocked up" and "The Waitress." Life started being protected by even most jadded of the artistic set. These movie scenes give me so much hope. Artists are the avante garde of society, if they are starting to promote the value of life since conception, how can a reversal of public opinion be far behind?
During the writer strike, my husband and I discovered reruns on nbc.com of Friday Night Lights, the television series of a high school football team set in Dillion, Texas. Even if you're a newbie to this fantastic series, please check out the best "pro-life" speech I've ever seen on TV.
To set the stage, Jason is a former star quarterback who became paralysed after a bad football tackle. Dealing with the emotions of his injury, he falls into unchastity with a one-night stand. When the girl tells him she's pregnant, he realizes that this is his one chance to become a father. (His spinal injury makes fertility a near impossibility.) The writers use this "injury" to explain why Jason desperately wants this baby. While very few 18 year old's worry about their fertility, Jason's situation is typical of the helpless the situation of fathers today. The decision to have an abortion rests entirely with the child's mother. Jason's plea for the mother of his child to choose life is one of the most touching things I've seen on television.
Kudos to the writers of Friday Night Lights!
I'll try to figure out how to better post a link to this series. In the meantime, use this link:
http://www.nbc.com/Friday_Night_Lights/video/episodes.shtml#vid=215724
Episode 215, go to min. 40
the conversation is from mins. 40-43
