sophie's fair

Wrinkles (c) Anne Geddes

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe ~
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

i watched larry king interview joni eareckson tada. she is truly an amazing woman with the faith of a child. as the evening progressed, they discussed another serious issue, it is called, embryonic stem cell research.

The old moon laughed and sang a song
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in the beautiful sea ~
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish ~
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

i've been reading the stem cell debate, balancing both opinions in my mind. there is one particular article that struck me: "human life begins at the union of sperm and ovum. during that first day, this is properly termed a 'fertilized egg'. however, this single-celled human body divides, divides, and divides again, so that nearing the end of the first week this embryo, now called a 'blastocyst', numbers several hundred cells. to obtain an embryonic stem cell, the researcher must cut open this embryo, thereby killing him or her and extracting stem cells... during the first week, this tiny new human floats freely down his or her mother's tube, dividing and sub-dividing as the journey is made. at about one week of life, he or she plants within the nutrient lining of the woman's uterus. in about three more days, having sent roots into the wall of the uterus, this new human sends a chemical hormonal message into the mother's blood stream and this stops her menstrual period. four days later, the embryonic heart begins to beat and three weeks after that, brain waves are measurable. the biologic fact is that from day one, inside and then outside of the uterus, this is one continuous, uninterrupted period of growth and development. it is impossible to draw a line in time and to say that before this time, this was not a living human, and after this, it is." human embryos are killed in the process of stem-cell harvesting. it doesnt matter whether the embryo is frozen or not, it is morally and deplorably wrong. in the embryonic stage, we werent just "potential" human beings, we already had a life, and thereby deserved a future.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam ~
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea ~
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

those who support embryonic stem (es) cell research believe that es cells are very flexible and capable of growing into different kinds of tissue (as opposed to adult stem cells), giving more room for research. these proponents also believe this may lead to a cure for AIDS, parkinson's, alzheimers and others. [researchers say the field is promising, though no cures have been developed from es cell research]. the potential of embryonic cells is lopsided. in the race for answers, we have called what is alive "not yet alive", compromising on moral questions, because the theory is promising.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
-- Eugene Field

there is another way to resolve the conflict:
"Adult stem cells obviously have a universal program for division that is common to all kinds of tissue stem cells, and makes them mutually interchangeable. This was discovered by Alexei Terskikh at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. He was able to prove that adult stem cells of blood-forming tissues, and of the brain, activate the same genes, in order to preserve their status as stem cells." a major advantage is "there are no rejection reactions, because the cells are from the same body". it thus makes sense to pour all resources in a field that has already given positive results, than in one that is full of uncertainties (remember dolly the sheep?). we cannot afford to be ignorant. when the damage is done, there cant be any room for regrets.

"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart... "
-- Jeremiah 1:4-5

to find out more about embryonic stem cell research:
prof. robert p. george, princeton university
dr. jc wilke, md
dr. wolfgang lillge, md