Childbirth
The other night, my daughter brought over Juanita, a new friend of hers. Juanita had never heard of Heavenletters™before, and right away, no questions asked, Juanita wanted them. I found a Heaven CD to give her, and she opened it right away as if to open it right away brought her closer to God that much sooner.
Juanita was born in Malaysia. In Malaysia, at least at the time, shamans helped to deliver babies, and birth was a much more holy thing than it seems to be here.
Before I say more about what Juanita said, I want to backtrack a little.
It has always seemed to me an unkind thing to hold a baby up by its feet and spank it. What kind of an introduction to the world is that?
I seriously wonder what a difference it might make to the world when, from the beginning, a baby is treated gently and lovingly.
There is no question that the purpose of spanking a newborn baby is well-intentioned — to make the baby cry and therefore breathe and have life. At the same time, everyone knows that spanking is not sweet.
Russ Michael once included a true story about childbirth in his newsletter. This is the story as I remember it:
A pregnant woman was driving on the highway with her three-year old daughter when suddenly the mother realized she was about to give birth. The woman swerved her car over to the side of the road. Very quickly a highway patrol policeman appeared, and he helped to deliver the baby. He employed the three-year old daughter to hold the flashlight for him. When the delivery was over, he asked the three-year old what she thought about the birth of her baby brother.
She responded: “Spank him again. He had no business being in there anyway.”
It’s a cute story, and it also points out that even a three-year old knows that spanking is punishment.
In contrast, Juanita told me that in Malaysia, babies aren’t spanked. If a baby doesn’t breathe right away on its own, the shaman breathes his or her breath into the newborn baby, and the baby’s first breath is mixed with the shaman’s.
Juanita has always felt that her spirit is somehow intimately connected to this now unknown shaman, and that her spiritual existence is more refined because of it.
I wonder why spanking a newborn baby took hold in the Western world. Why not simply breathe life into all newborn babies? It works.
I suppose breathing is not considered sanitary, and that’s why. Sterile claims more importance than gentleness.
And, if I were a doctor, I suppose I would have to follow what is considered the accepted procedure, or be censured, perhaps even booted out. Since I’m not a doctor, I can say whatever I want.
I am sure that if I were a baby and could choose, I would say Yes to a gift of breath and No to spanking.
Godwriting is a blog by Gloria Wendroff and is about Gloria's daily life as the Godwriter of the Heavenletters project that is having a profound effect on the lives of people around the world.
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