Something Special and Liberalism
As a parent I get to watch quite a bit of the CBEEBIES channel. One of the programmes that I most admire is the programme Something Special and the way that it seeks to blur the distinctions between “special” children and “normal” kids. It is programmes like this that make paying a licence fee worthwhile.
“Special” children cause quite a difficulty for so-called liberal thinking. As they never will attain the liberal ideal of independent, rational autonomy there is a tendency to regard them as sub-human. In the UK, this is evidenced in the way that the abortion of “special” children is allowed and even actively encouraged, as a couple in our church who had to struggle against their doctors to carry on with a pregnancy can testify. Nonetheless, it is not considered acceptable to take this approach to its full conclusion and treat “special” children after birth as sub-human (as former England Manager Glenn Hoddle discovered when trying to express his kind of buddhist beliefs).
The Christian narrative offers different resources for affirming the value of “special” children, both before and after birth. If life is a gift, and one’s human identity comes not from independent, autonomous reason but from being loved by God and sharing in the love of God, then “special” children become gifts of a special nature. They remind us that all life is a gift and dependence on God and push us out of our ego-centricity (where children become consumer goods over which parents have rights) towards the genuine exocentricity of sharing in the divine life (where we are led to love even though we receive little in return).
Smile on, Mr. Tumble!
Tags: Childhood
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.