I’ve been thinking about bubbles.
You didn’t expect that one, did ya?
There’s a song I heard recently called “The Boy in the Bubble,” by Alec Benjamin. The song is about a boy who has closed himself off from caring about anyone, or allowing himself to be cared for, because of deep pain he has gone through.
He has made himself “The Boy in the Bubble,” who says things like, “Punch my face, do it cause I like the pain. Every time you curse my name, I know you want the satisfaction, it’s not gonna happen.”
The song, unfortunately, is demonstrative of real people, who experience pain to the degree that they decide to cut themselves off from loving, or being loved. It’s like another song, “Hello My Old Heart,” by the Oh Hellos, which says to a heart long locked away, “It’s true you’ll never beat, but you’ll never break.”
Bubbles. To most, they are the nostalgia of spring picnics in the park as a child, when a bubble was the single most fascinating thing of your life.
To some, they are the representation of the space they try to hide in and call their own, but it’s clear even to them that they are a cage.
Recently I began to read about a boy named David Vetter, whose nickname was the inspiration for Alec Benjamin's song. In 1971, David’s mother gave birth to him, knowing that he had an immune disease called SCID. (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) The only treatment for the disease available at the time was a bone marrow transplant, but even that was not available to David, because there was no donor match for him.
The doctors decided to try placing him inside a sterilized plastic bubble, which would keep out the germs that could be lethal to him…but it also kept the world (at least the way we experience it) out with them. David is known to the world most commonly as "The Boy in the Bubble," or "The Bubble Boy."
David lived for 12 years inside his bubble. Along the way, he inspired many, and caused many to ask very difficult questions. “Is it ethical to put someone through such a low quality of life?” “What will we do when he gets old enough to perhaps want to leave the bubble, knowing the risk?” “Should his parents have chosen to abort him?”
Medically, his life caused progression in a way very few individuals have. Today SCID can be treated much earlier and more effectively than it could in his day, because of his life.
Morally, his life demonstrated that in all circumstances, people have value. David’s doctor John Montgomery had to wrestle with these ethical questions, but through knowing David, he concluded that to preserve his life was absolutely the ethical solution.
“If you take care of the patient better by doing nothing, you should do nothing. But if there is even a remote chance of success, for goodness sake, take it.” -John R Montgomery
David’s gravestone reads, “He never touched the world, but the world was touched by him.”
Who knew bubbles could make you think so deeply?
I think a lot in parallels and allegories, (if you have read my blog, you probably already know) so it struck me that in Ontario, when a hospital or abortion clinic has a space that is legally protected from pro-life advocates, it is called a Bubble Zone.
Just thinking about bubbles in all four examples, the parallels that show up are really fascinating. The first relates to childhood and innocence, which most people agree should be protected. The second, to abuse suffered by (usually) children, and self-protection. The third, to a child, protecting his life. The fourth relates again, to innocent children, but for the purpose of “protecting” the mother, even at the expense of her child.
Bubble Zones insure that no one advocating for the life of pre-born children can stand within 50-500 metres of the hospital. The contrast between the bubble that kept David safe for 12 years, and the bubble which is meant to secure the deaths of other children like him, is overwhelming.
The strongest thing that stood out to me as I read about David, was that inside his sterile bubble, there was constant noise, and the plastic made it hard to hear through to either side. His family stood by him, bringing tutors to teach him, and spending time with him just like they would have if he had been just like anyone else, but communication was hard. Not impossible, but hard.
In 2019, the biggest reason abortion is treated as acceptable, is because the children it affects cannot be heard. They can’t make their own case. But unlike David, their parents don’t try to communicate with them.
The doctors in David’s life created a bubble for him so that he could live, and unfortunately it made his voice hard to hear. Today, people who want to implement the Bubble Zones around abortion clinics and hospitals do it for the EXACT opposite reason. There are a few people who have enough courage today to speak for the children who can’t be heard, and the bubble is meant to silence the only voice those children have.
All of this being said, I don’t want to leave on a negative note. Because, as in David’s situation, where a very improbable solution worked, there are always improbabilities that just might happen.
Though improbable, there IS a voice for the pre-born, and it is not being diminished by those who would silence it, it’s getting louder. If you, like me, want to see a change, let’s you and I become a part of it. To paraphrase the quote from earlier, "If we took care of the children better by doing nothing, then we should do nothing. But if there is even a remote chance of success, for goodness sake, let's take it!"
NOTES:
If you would like to join this growing movement, there are pro-life activist groups popping up all over Canada! I encourage you to look up “(Your City) Against Abortion,” and see if there is something nearby, if not, go to the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR) website, and contact them.
