My Uber driver a few mornings ago didn't mind the relatively short ride we embarked on. "Every trip counts," he said, "no one is more or less important than the other.” He prefers the short rides to the long ones in seemingly endless traffic — "I had one of those last night," he said with obvious regret. "I like my short rides. They get me to a bonus, he assured me. It wasn't quite 8 a.m. yet, and he was just grateful he wasn't stuck on a highway, but moving through side streets. The woman who rang up my breakfast in a crowded shop had red-tipped dreadlocks and a sweet, shy smile. Here in the United States, especially those of us in urban settings, we encounter so many people during the course of a day. Each and every one of them has a story.
I think that's the power of the new movie Unplanned. It's the story of a woman and her desire to help women, to have a purpose, to do something good with her life. She believed she was doing that as a volunteer in college and then when she worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas. It also hurt the hearts of some of those dearest around her — her parents, her boyfriend who became her husband — who believed that the abortions done at her clinic were the ending of human lives. But they loved her through that intimate, emotional difference of opinion. Love can do that. Love is sacrificial and hopeful and accepts people as they are.
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