Angelina Goes to Iraq: Pregnant

Standing in line at the grocery store recently, I saw a magazine that had a photo of a pregnant Angelina Jolie walking down a street in Iraq. The headlines shouted, “Angelina Jeopardizes Children!” My first thought was, “Cool, ‘children’, rather than ‘fetuses.’” (She is allegedly pregnant with twins.) Anyway, when I logged on later that day I discovered that there were quite a few people who catch up on pop culture while standing in grocery lines, as there were quite a few emails asking me about Mrs Pitt going to Iraq while pregnant.

Believe me: thousands of soldiers and special force units volunteered to be part of her security team, so she was probably safer than some US Senator who visited the week before! However, when I first saw the photo, my initial reaction was to agree with the headlines. But then I started thinking about it and am not so sure it is “wrong.”

If an individual believes they are “called” to go into harms way for the sake of an honorable cause, who am I to say it is “wrong”? After all, I went in and out of Southern Sudan during their Civil War and certainly didn’t believe it was “wrong.” Maybe, as a Goodwill Representative for the UN, Angelina Jolie believes this?

On the other hand, having children comes with implicit obligations that require you to stay alive so as to fulfill these obligations. It is one thing to be in the military and be called up to fight on the front line of our war against the Jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many parents are doing just that, right now. But for a mother to do this when she doesn’t have to, at the very least, is questionable. Nevertheless, I do not say, “Wrong,” as if she has committed some breach of morality. At worst, I would say not so wise, or even foolish.

But, as I am not God, she doesn’t stand or fall before me, and so must obey her own conscience in such matters. Certainly, from what I have read (while standing in line at a grocery store), she is a loving mother and would not intentionally do something so overtly dangerous that she thought she was risking her ability to Be There for them. Anyway, I suppose she did believe herself safe, what with all the security she had surrounding her.

My mother always said that there was no safer place to be than in the will of God. I agree … with a caveat. Trusting God with your life is not the same thing as trusting you will come back alive. Remember: The God in whom Jesus trusted had him executed on a cross.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2008