Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned from My Grandmother.(pro life movement)

For the past year and half, I've been making monthly trips back to my hometown of Springfield, Illinois, to see my aging grandmother. The trips were prompted, in part, by a "field trip" to the hospital in February 2005, and a series of subsequent "field trips" in the months that followed. My grandmother, Mary F. Jones, isn't getting any younger and the 800 miles between Springfield and Washington, D.C., mean I don't get to spend every day with her like I did growing up.

Last month, instead of me going to her, she came to me. Along with my mother who volunteers for National Right to Life every year at the convention, my grandmother made the six-hour drive from Springfield to Nashville to spend the week. My grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday in April.

Our time together in Nashville reminded of the many things I learned from her when I was growing up. My mother has worked nights my entire life and Grandma was my built-in babysitter. If mom was sleeping and grandmother needed to go somewhere, she just brought me along.

It was not until much later that I learned that these important lessons did not end when I left home. As Grandma grows older, she continues to teach my mother and me lessons that are as enduring as the human spirit.

Each Person Deserves Honor and Respect

Last September, my mother left her job of 26 years to be my grandmother's full-time caregiver. Though Grandma is still capable of doing things for herself, some tasks require assistance.

We know that no matter what stage of lifefrom the tiniest human embryo to the elders of our society and everywhere in between, and no matter what degree of ability or disabilityeach and every person has an inherent dignity that we recognize and respect. We must redouble our efforts to instill this most fundamental value in the hearts and minds of Americans.