I believe that every human being is inherently valuable. My mom taught me that through her actions and instructions. I was conceived in date-rape, and she never once had the thought of aborting me. She claimed, “It is not my right to stop a beating heart.” I have heard it differently when one person said, “The child did nothing wrong, it is not he who should be punished.” I feel truly blessed to be alive from the decision for life my mom made decades ago. She decided to sacrifice future potential relationships, social comfort, financial security and any personal plans all for me. I live a life truly blessed and wish to share my story with anyone who will hear it. My mom always made sure that I had proper male role models and a solid friend group through my church youth program. I have many friends, a well-adjusted social life, no baggage from hazardous romantic relationships, no hatred towards my birth father and a genuinely positive outlook on life. Where she is weak, I have been made strong and when I struggle, she is always there. To my mom, I am not simply the painful reminder of a tragic abuse; I am a son she considers a gift from God.
I have been trained to act as a gentleman, showing the utmost respect for women. Instead of blaming my father for the bad in her life, she took the opportunity to raise her child to be different from this world which is generally bereft of character. I have been the “Man of the house” my entire life and I now have a very protective and reverential view of women. My mother also taught me the joy of living selflessly. In our household, love was offered without condition, and I learned early on that people inherent value. Through crafting a family in the face of ugly and difficult circumstances, my mother displayed how satisfying it is to care for others with your resources. While we didn’t go on traditional or expensive family vacations, my mother did encourage me to engage in short-term missions trip opportunities. For example, during my Spring Breaks in high school, I volunteered with other youth group friends fixing up broken-down homes in the city. During the summers in high school I went on 4 missions trips to various locations and continued this trend in college with my spring breaks. She instilled in me the longing to live generously, and to take on the responsibility of sacrificial love.
While I do recognize that many socio-economic issues come with the responsibility of children, I do not believe these outcomes are inevitable because of my own story. I was instilled with a spirit of hard work and ownership of decisions and consequences. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in May 2013 from the University at Buffalo with a B.S. in Business Administration with a triple concentration in: Supply Chain+Operations, Marketing, and Human Resources. I say this not to brag, but to assert that every child deserves a chance to live and achieve what they choose. The arguments for race, gender and all other human rights issues center around the inherent value of human life and equal opportunities owed therein. I believe all of these issues point toward the simple fact; every child, regardless of perceived social inconvenience, is owed a chance at life. The only undeniable facet of personhood is genetic makeup, and this is established upon conception.
My name is Nicholas Charles D’Angelo, and my mother chose life for me. I wish to use my voice for all those who never got a chance; every life is precious and deserving of respect. Save the one, save every one; they deserve it.
