By Dave Andrusko
For the commemorative issue of National Right to Life News—the edition that focuses on the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision—we interviewed Dr. Priscilla Coleman. Dr. Coleman knows as much, if not more, than anyone about the enormous toll abortion exacts of the mothers who have made that tragic decision. (If you are not a subscriber to the “pro-life newspaper of record,” call us at 202-626—8824. This edition is “must reading.”)
I thought of that interview as I watched “Aaron,” the video story of a young boy who goes missing. Christine Dhanagom talked about the woman who plays the mother in the video.
Admittedly, what follows here calls for a “spoiler alert”: I am going to tell you what happens, but in all honesty words cannot do justice to the emotions you will experience seeing the video, which is only 5:17 seconds long.
The story begins with a shot of the house and a little boy’s bicycle and baseball bat out front. His mom (Vanessa Ore) comes into her son’s room with a birthday cake; a rocket ship is the centerpiece. As she approaches his bed, you see a photo of mom and dad and Aaron.
After a breakfast of pancakes [with chocolate chips and whipped cream], it’s off to the park. The sheer delight of mother and son as he pretends he is on Jupiter and they jointly fight aliens just grabs you. (He wants to be an astronaut.) “I love you, mom,” he says. “I love you Aaron.”
She glances at a book [by C.S. Lewis!], and then looks over at him on the swings. Aaron, who smiles a lot, waves back. She turns to her left and sees a mom pushing a stroller with a baby in it.
When she turns back to look at Aaron, he is gone! Every parent on the face of the planet has “lost” their child for a moment and as she frantically looks around and yells his name, my stomach turned.
Ever more frantically, she calls, “Aaron.” “Aaron!” Every time she turns her head she sees another mom with another child at the playground. But not her son.
She pulls her cell phone out of her purse and frantically calls her husband.
“I can’t find him, he’s gone.” “Who? What happened?” he asks. She explains, “He was on the swing and I looked away for one second, and when I looked back he was gone.”
“Who?” “Aaron, our son!” she answers back, a mixture of anger and impatience and fear.
A slight pause: “Honey, we don’t have a son.” “What?” He answers, “We decided not to have it.”
“That’s not possible.”
“We have this conversation every year. I’m sorry; I didn’t realize it was today.”
By this time, if you’re like me, you are fighting back tears, just like the mom. As she speaks to her husband, in her mind she imagines Aaron’s room and the photo of the three of them suddenly becomes a photo of just she and her husband.
“His name is Aaron, and he loves rocket ships and he wants to be a astronaut,” she says, her voice wracked with pain.”He has beautiful blue eyes. He called me mom and he told me he loves me. And today’s his birthday.” And then a slight pause, “He’s our son.”
The video ends with the mom sitting alone on the park bench. She hears Aaron’s voice whispering, “I love you, Mom. I forgive you.”
You can watch “Aaron” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0XjX-y8NoI
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